The Most
by Fairytailanimefan
Summary: THIRD BOOK TO WHERE WE BELONG. Bucky just wanted her to be happy. And she was, she truly was happy with him. She knew they were different, she knew their lives were messed up and it wouldn't always be easy. But no relationship was easy. And all that she cared about was that Bucky was worth every bit of struggle she'd had since meeting him. Because she loved him the most.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: come out and play **

Donatella couldn't dream of anything better than this. Sleeping wrapped up in Bucky's arms, it was intoxicating. She woke up that morning to see gentle snow falling outside the window. It was gorgeous, peaceful. Gentle fat flakes drifted down lazily, quietly coating the noisy city with a peaceful layer. She laid there quietly, sufficiently warm next to her favorite person, his breath puffing gently across her cheek. Don loved mornings like this, where she could just gather her thoughts and wake up on her own terms. She would wait to wake Bucky, knowing he deserved the rest. He had been busy these past few weeks, working enough so that he could take time off for their anniversary. She would still be on leave during it, Tony giving her an extensive period of time off to recover from her shattered collarbone and bruised larynx. He had also given her full access to a therapist, and she was grateful for the ability to be able to talk over everything that had happened.

She was struggling, a lot, to come to terms with what had happened. She gained a brother, and a few days later she had lost him by her own actions. It was really hard for her to feel okay with, and she wasn't quite sure if she would ever be the same afterwards. Bucky, of course, had been extremely patient and helpful with her mental state. He was able to speak from experience with most things, but didn't force her to think any certain way, actually letting her muddle through her emotions on her own.

It honestly made her fall in love with him a little more, she'd given even more of herself to him. And he offered up the same, sharing hushed stories and confessions that made her weep for him, for what he'd gone through. She told him more of what had happened, how she felt after taking a life, and he was so understanding, so concerned, yet he gave her as much space as she needed. He was always there when she needed him, always knew exactly what to say, what to do. Bucky gave her affection when she needed it, craved it, a shoulder to cry on, a strong, sturdy pillar in her fogged up daze of pain and confusion. She felt like the rest of the world was just out of her grasp, but he was always there, a steady beacon to pull her out of that hazy place and bring her back into real life.

They had more time to focus on their relationship, and actually discussed their future. He confessed that he wanted to get married and have kids, he craved that normalcy, the escape from his fucked up life. They still weren't sure if he was sterile or not, but they decided they wouldn't go to find out until they were ready to think about kids, which wouldn't be for a while yet, not until they managed to get their feet under them after the shock of her kidnapping. And she told him that she was nervous that she would be a terrible parent, just like her own had been. He understood, but he refused to let her believe that she could ever be like her parents. He reminded her of who raised her, how wonderful of a person Janita was, and he looked so sure of what he was saying that she believed him. If she could ever be even a little bit like her adoptive mother, she would be happy.

Bucky just wanted her to be happy. And she was, she truly was happy with him, no matter the snide comments Tony would make or the concerned looks that Steve and Sam would give them. She knew they were different, she knew their lives were fucked up and it wouldn't always be easy. But no relationship was easy, she'd had enough to at least know that. And all that she cared about was that Bucky was _worth_ the work, he was worth every small bit of struggle she'd had since meeting him, because the pros outweighed the cons by a few tons.

And he felt the same. He knew that he would do anything for her, to protect her, to make her happy. He made sure to make time for her, always, even if it was just a few minutes each day he'd make sure she _knew_ how much he cared for her, whether it was bringing her a handful of flowers or making her dinner or even just telling her. He could always make her smile, no matter what she was feeling.

Bucky's breaths stuttered as he rolled over, pushing his hair out of his face as he blinked himself awake. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, stretching his arms over his head before turning back towards her, draping his arm comfortingly over her waist. A lazy smile grew over his face as he focused on her, his glimmering blue eyes drooping with sleep. She gave him a small smile back, tracing her hand over his chest.

"Good morning, Baltimore." she teased, and his smile widened.

"I still don't know what that means." he chuckled, pressing his face closer to her neck, taking in a deep breath. "How did you sleep?" he asked, pressing a small kiss to her almost completely healed neck. The bruises were a very pale yellow, and should be gone within a few days. He pecked the spot just behind her ear, inhaling deeply.

"I slept alright. I didn't have great dreams." she admitted. His lips pursed against her skin before he pulled back, eyes meeting hers with a concerned look.

"Was it him again?" he asked, and she frowned before giving a slight nod. He sighed, bringing his hand up to stroke through her hair, which had been dyed back to its normal color after her disastrous roots showed far too much for her liking.

"It was pretty standard, him dead in front of me." she tilted her head into his comforting touch. He frowned again, brows furrowing, and she reached up with her fingertips to smooth out the lines. "It's okay, Buck. I'm fine, I just wish I didn't have to dream about it."

"I wish I could make it all go away." he sighed. She gave a weak smile, pressing her fingers into his cheek and forcing one side of his lips up.

"Trust me, you help more than you could ever know." she laughed. "Now stop looking so sad, I'm thinking about making waffles for breakfast, what do you think?" she asked conspiratorially.

"I think that as long as we have real syrup and powdered sugar, I will have waffles." he smiled, leaning closer to her.

"You eat way too much sugar, you know." she wrinkled her nose as he pressed a kiss to the tip of it. He chuckled as he pulled back, eyes glimmering with mirth.

"You're one to talk, you put peanut butter on everything." he teased. She rolled her eyes, untangling herself from his arms to sit up and glance back out the window.

"I think we should make breakfast and then lay on the couch all day, and watch the snow come down. It's supposed to be a blizzard." she said in a hushed tone, and his smile widened.

"I love the way you think." he sat up as well, stretching once more, and she let her eyes rake over his form. That smooth, tanned muscle, the glint of metal from his arm, the way his shorts hung low on his hips and revealed that small trail of hair… god, he was like a Renaissance painting, he belonged in a museum he was so perfect. How the hell did she ever get so lucky to end up with someone like this? "What are you looking at?" he asked, snapping her from her ogling.

"You." she replied bluntly, and he rolled his eyes at her, shooting her the look that she loved so much. His lips pouted out deliciously, but his eyes were playfully annoyed.

"Take a photograph, it'll last longer." he teased.

"It's take a _picture_, Buck, not photograph. God, you're lucky I love you." she smiled as she slid out from under the covers, stepping onto the cool hardwood with bare feet. She shivered and grabbed a fluffy white robe from where it hung on the bedpost, wrapping up in it as she felt the chill in the air around her. "Is the heat even on?" she whined, padding out of the bedroom to go and check the thermostat.

"I turned it down last night, something smelled like it was burning." he replied, and she huffed with annoyance.

"Yeah, it was me roasting myself. Will you please start the coffee maker? A hot cup sounds amazing right now?" she asked, shivering as she turned the heat back up. He nodded and stepped past her, of course still shirtless. The cold didn't really bother him all that much.

Snow in March wasn't unheard of, in New York it was pretty much always snowing as long as it was cold enough. She couldn't wait for spring to start though, she really missed the sun. It seemed like whenever she was with Bucky, it was dark and snowy, and they never really got to _do _anything, like go to the beach, or, well, even go outside without jackets and mittens and boots.

"Do you want bacon?" Bucky asked softly after the coffee maker started. She thought for a moment before giving a vigorous nod. He gave her a slight smile back, opening the fridge and pulling out the package as she began to mix up the batter. She loved their mornings together, speaking in hushed tones as they woke up, working in tandem to make breakfast. It was quiet, private, and it meant so much to her to be able to have someone to hide away from the rest of the world with. They didn't speak after that, both looking out the window at the waking city. It was still slightly dark, the sun still in the middle of rising. It took awhile for the weak beams of light to brighten up the sky in the winter, but that was fine with her.

"How did you sleep? I forgot to ask." Don questioned as she put a plate of waffles on the table, Bucky's precious sugar and syrup already sitting and waiting. She slid into a seat, watching the steam curl up from the surface of her coffee. He slumped down, scratching the seam between his torso and his metal shoulder absentmindedly.

"I had great dreams." he smiled down at her as he started making his plate. "You were in them, so what could I complain about?"

"I'm always with you, don't you ever get sick of me?" she teased, pouring syrup over her plate. He rolled his eyes, giving her a smirk.

"Sometimes. But, I think I'd rather always be with you than always be apart." his face fell after a moment. "You know, I think we should do something nice for Steve. Invite him over for dinner, or something… it's been a year since he, well, lost Peggy." he revealed. Her stomach curled painfully, her heartstrings being tugged at the thought of Steve being alone during this time of year.

"You're right." she nodded, taking a sip of her coffee after she doctored it up. "Should we have him over tonight? Tony too, maybe? They're close."

"No, I'd think Natasha would be better in this type of situation." he gave a sharp shake of his head, and she pursed her lips. He always shot her down when she wanted to have Tony or Peter over.

"If you say so." she took a large bite of her waffle, and he sighed.

"Usually, I'd say no to Tony for no reason. But this time, I'm serious." his eyes pleaded with her to understand. "I want him to feel comfortable here, not like he has to be prepared for a snarky comment or something inappropriate. Plus, Nat was there for him when Peggy died, and Tony wasn't." he explained.

"I believe you." she shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment before continuing. "I think you're right. This time." she added at the end with a small smile. He grinned back, relieved she was seeing it his way.

"Here, a compromise. We have Steve over for dinner with just Nat tonight, just this one time. And then, next week, after we celebrate our anniversary, we can have Peter and Tony over. But only if Sam is not allowed anywhere near this apartment." he held his finger up threateningly. "I cannot handle all three of them at the same time."

"Agreed. I'll hold you to it, no backsies, okay?" she grinned teasingly at him. He gave a weak grin back before picking up his own coffee and taking a large gulp.

"Definitely. Don't worry, I promise I won't back out." he stood quickly, glancing around the kitchen. "Do you know where my cellular phone is, by any chance?" he asked sheepishly.

"_Please_ stop calling it that!" she groaned, and he laughed before picking it up off the counter.

"I'm going to go call Steve. I guess we won't have our lazy day on the couch after all." he sighed.

"Hey, we've got the rest of our lives for that." she grinned.

"Of course we do. Because you're my girl." he smiled.

"Always." she replied as he backed out of the room, a dopey happy look plastered on his face.

As long as they had each other they would be just fine.

…

"So Steve, how did it go with Audrey?" Natasha asked as they sat down to eat. Steve's shoulders tensed, and Donatella was worried he would get offended.

"She didn't even know who the Andrews sisters were. I almost walked out right then and there." he scoffed, and Donatella felt a bark of laughter escape her at his incredulousness.

"Yeah, she definitely wasn't a keeper then." Bucky shook his head with a smirk.

"Steve, you can't dump every girl who doesn't understand your old-timey references." Natasha scolded him, taking a sip of deep red wine. The woman had dressed up for the occasion, in a dark black cocktail dress that hugged her curves tightly.

"I can and I will." he replied, causing the rest of them to laugh.

"How've you been, kid?" Bucky clapped his hand on Steve's shoulder. They were seated at the small dining table, the two childhood friends sitting on one side and her and Natasha just across from them.

"It could be better. There's a lot of cleanup with the rest of the HYDRA stragglers, but Arnold has been a great help." Steve gave a sincere smile to Donatella.

"I still can't believe you named him after the Terminator." Natasha chuckled, shaking her head.

"I didn't mean about work, Steve, I mean how are you doing about Peggy?" a hush fell over the table as they all awaited his response. Steve set his fork down before leaning back in his chair.

"I knew there was an ulterior motive to this dinner. My own best friend won't even invite me over until he's worried about me." Steve joked. Nobody laughed, but Don attempted to give him an encouraging smile.

"You're always welcome to come over, Steve." Donnie said, and he nodded at her before he responded.

"Well, I'm fine. Really. I just keep getting caught up in what could have been…" he sighed, shaking his head, and Natasha placed a comforting hand over his. He gave a small smile in return, and Bucky frowned.

"Steve, you've gotta leave the past where it belongs." Bucky said quietly. Steve nodded, his eyes filling with emotion, and Donatella felt her heart break a little bit.

"It's hard to. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago that she was…" he struggled to find the words, staring down at his palms, a pained expression on his face.

"We understand, Steve." Natasha replied, a strong tone at the table as she gave him a fierce look. "But like Barnes said, the past is in the past. Peggy held a full life, and she wouldn't want you to sit here and feel sorry for yourself thinking 'what if' all the time."

"There's always gonna be a part of you that loves her. But I think it's time to move on, Steve. You can't keep dumping girls because they're not Peggy." Bucky frowned. Steve glanced between the two of them, a determined look coming over his face before he nodded.

"You're right. You're absolutely right. I've been focusing way too much on her recently." he sighed.

"We aren't saying you need to forget her." Donatella shook her head, glancing at Bucky before continuing. "But you need to start moving forwards. We can all tell that you've been stuck in a rut. We just want you to be happy, Steve." Bucky gave her an encouraging smile as she finished, and she gave a small grin back.

"I suppose you'll just have to find a doctor to hold hostage until they fall in love with you." Natasha teased, and Bucky's face fell into a scowl.

"Okay, that is _not_ what happened." he crossed his arms, nearly pouting as Donatella laughed.

"It kind of is, you know." she teased Bucky, and he groaned, dropping his head into his hands.

"Definitely isn't." he mumbled, and Steve clapped his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I don't know, I did see you throw her over your shoulder and then jump down a few flights of stairs. It feels like a hostage situation to me." Steve shrugged.

"Kinda felt like it in that moment." Don smirked as she sipped her wine. Bucky shot her a look before taking in a deep breath.

"I was _only_ doing that because I didn't want to lose her, I don't know if you remember but we were under attack!" he defended himself.

"Okay, okay, we believe you." Natasha rolled her eyes, sharing a look with Donnie as she hid a laugh behind the rim of her glass.

"So when are you coming back to work, Donnie? Stark has a countdown started, but I wasn't sure what the number was." Steve smiled at her.

"Well, it should be in two weeks." she frowned, swirling her glass. Steve gave a small nod and a grin.

"Well, we'll all be happy to see you come back." Steve replied, and it was quiet for a moment as they ate, the only noises were forks scraping against plates and glasses clinking on the table.

"How have things been going with therapy?" Natasha brought up casually, giving her a sidelong glance. Bucky shot Nat an annoyed look.

"Pretty well, actually." she revealed. Natasha smiled at her, a look of pride coming over her face. "I'm glad you recommended him to me, he's helped me out a lot."

"You go to therapy?" Steve stared at Natasha, a thoughtful look coming over his features.

"Of course. I've had to go through a lot of adjustments since the Red Room. There was no way I could handle it all on my own." she confessed. "It's important to understand when you need help."

"Amen. Glad someone understands." Donatella grinned, raising her glass. Natasha shot her a smirk.

"Well, that _is_ why women rule the world." Natasha chuckled.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Can't Stop**

**This Chapter Contains Adult Themes**

He brought her back to Bucharest. It was a surprise trip on her end, she had only found out the day before their anniversary that they were even leaving the apartment. He had told her to pack a bag for two nights, and she did, but she was quite confused. Where would they go? It was on the brink between winter and spring, so either somewhere warm or cold would probably be the place. She wasn't even sure if he would bring her out of the country. But, on a private jet from Stark industries they flew through the night to Bucharest.

"Oh, Buck." she breathed as they landed in a familiar area. She could see a few buildings she recognized. He gave her a wide smile before helping her off of the jet and into a waiting car, something shiny and foreign and completely different from their last time in the city. She sort of missed the rushed, hushed, mad dash to his apartment. Instead they went on a short car ride with champagne and chocolate covered fruits until they reached a gorgeous, historic-looking hotel. Five stars most likely.

"What, we aren't staying at our place?" she joked, and he gave her a sharp look.

"You know we can't go there anymore." he sighed, glancing back out the window. "Otherwise I'd fix it up and bring you back there." he gave her a sincere look, something wistful playing in his eyes, and she was overwhelmed with emotion for a moment. They first kissed here, first told each other how much they cared here. This was where their lives became so intertwined that anything short of togetherness caused a deep sense of feeling _wrong. _

But now, well, she didn't have to worry anymore. Because she was with him again. So much had happened between them since the last time they were in Romania, and somehow it made them stronger. They managed to work through every obstacle in the way to be together. And she knew that no matter what else popped up, they would find their way back to one another.

"This is gorgeous." she whispered in awe as he led her to the front desk. The interior was decorated in rich colors, red draped over every surface, gilded edges winking in the warm lighting, mahogany furniture gleaming.

"Yes, it's very beautiful. Tony recommended it." he murmured back before greeting the concierge. She glanced around a bit more before tuning into his lilting voice, the sound of him speaking the foreign language intoxicating to her. They had a short conversation before Bucky was given a set of key cards and a small brochure, the beautiful woman behind the counter eyeing him up shamelessly. Donatella tried not to glare, if she were in the woman's shoes she would do the same.

But did she have to do it so _openly_?

She was still annoyed about it when they got up to their room, but as Bucky unlocked the door a burst of laughter left her and she felt all her stress melt away. For some god-awful reason they were in a gaudy honeymoon suite, rose petals and candles lit up everywhere, a heart-shaped bed obviously the main event, placed right in the middle of the room.

"Laugh it up, but there's a jacuzzi tub." he smirked at her, and her hysterical giggles halted as she dashed towards the bathroom.

"God, I love how you know me so well!" she grinned widely at him as he set their luggage down. He gave her a large smile and kicked off his shoes.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving and I'm thinking we should order room service." he said conspiratorially. She laughed and nodded eagerly.

"What's on the menu?" she grinned, crossing the room to settle on the edge of the bed. He opened up the brochure that the concierge had given him, studying the options. She wanted to kiss the small divot in his forehead that always appeared when he focused on something. She raked her eyes down him shamelessly, much like the woman at the front desk had. He glanced up with a smirk once he finished reading the options.

"I can feel you looking at me, you know." he chuckled, stepping towards her and dropping down next to her. "Here, you'll probably like this. _Mici, salata bouf…_" he listed off a few more options, and she nodded, barely paying attention to what he was saying. She didn't really care what it was as long as he kept talking in Romanian.

"Get me whatever you think I'd like." she smiled, leaning back onto her elbows with a yawn. He chuckled quietly, leaning over her to grab the phone off the nightstand, settling so he was stretched out on his stomach over her lap. He dialed the number easily, and she could feel his chest rumbling as he murmured into the receiver. One of her hands reached out absentmindedly to trace patterns onto his back, and he shivered a bit before giving her a 'knock it off' look. She merely grinned back, sitting up to settle both of her hands onto his back, kneading in with her fingers and knuckles in a makeshift massage.

He hung the phone up, but didn't get up to tell her to stop, instead he slumped down and laid completely flat over her lap, letting her work on his tense muscles. A soft groan escaped his lips as she hit a tender spot, and she gently prodded at it.

"You need to stop working so hard. The world isn't going to end if you don't wake up at six in the morning to run with Steve." she chuckled, softly kneading the knot until he relaxed again.

"It's fun, though. We race sometimes." she could hear his muffled smile, his face buried into the silky red sheets.

"You two act like kids." she laughed. He huffed in response, and she continued to slowly rake her fingers over his back, soothing away any tense muscles. "I can't believe it's only been a year." she sighed, and he turned his head to look at her, resting it on a throw pillow. His gaze raked over her lazily, a sleepy look in his eyes, and there was such adoration there that her heart ached. His face was open to her, and she could see everything that he held behind his mask.

"I feel like I've known you my whole life." his voice was hushed, his eyes glimmering with something like fondness. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"It's the same for me." she cracked a smile, moving her fingers up to the base of his neck and rubbing small circles. "You're my whole world pretty much. I'd be lost if I didn't have you."

"Probably sit in your room and eat chicken nuggets by yourself." he yawned, and she lightly slapped his shoulder. "Hey!"

"Excuse you, but we do that every week. Are you saying you don't like laying in bed eating McDonalds?" she laughed.

"I don't like it when you do it without me." his lips puckered into a pout, and she flopped backwards with a laugh.

"Okay that happened once! I learned my lesson." she smiled, reminiscing on the time he caught her eating without him. He had been so upset that she didn't get him anything, like a kid. Sometimes people wondered how they managed to stay together, but she saw the fun side of him, the loving side of him, the teasing side of him… most people only saw the rigid front he put up.

She and Bucky laid there for a few more moments until there was a knock on the door signifying their room service had arrived. Bucky pushed himself up and off of her, padding on bare feet over to the door with a cautious expression. She tried not to sigh. He had been so relaxed before, and now she would have to get him loosened up again. Anytime he saw a stranger or even people that weren't her or Steve, he became closed off, cold. It was like he had two different personalities. She wished people could see what she saw.

Then again, she was selfish and didn't really want to share him with anyone else. She could keep him just to herself. Just for a little longer.

Once the food was inside, Bucky rolled the cart next to the bed before flopping down next to her again, gripping her around the waist and pulling her into his chest.

"Aren't we gonna eat?" She asked from her position, her face squashed into the front of his shirt.

"Just shut up for two seconds." He groaned, his arms tightening around her. She stifled her laughter and settled into his warm embrace, relaxing bonelessly into his strong arms. She could stay like this forever. She would have, except the smell of something _amazing_ made her stomach growl loudly. Bucky sighed and rolled away from her, sitting up and reaching for a few plates.

"What's this?" She asked excitedly as he handed her something. It smelled so good, and she barely listened to his reply as she began to shovel forkfuls into her mouth. He rolled his eyes at her, reaching into a bucket of ice and procuring a bottle of champagne.

"Want some?" He asked as he popped the cork out skillfully, not wasting a drop as he poured a glass filled almost to the brim.

"You really are the man of my dreams." She sighed happily as she took the flute of champagne, sipping the bubbly liquid quickly.

"Because I feed you and give you alcohol?" He quirked an eyebrow, a playful smirk over his features. She rolled her eyes and took another sip before replying.

"Partly. But mostly because I dream about you. A _lot_." She laughed.

"You do?" He cocked his head to the side, and she swallowed hard at the look in his eyes.

"Yeah, actually." Donatella revealed, swirling her drink and avoiding his gaze.

"What do you dream about?" He asked. She gave a small shrug before replying.

"Anything and everything, I guess. Sometimes it's just us talking, hanging out. Other times, it's our future together. And I even have dreams about us… doing it." She finished bluntly, and a slow grin spread across his face.

"Of course you do. Have you always had these dreams?" He leaned forward, gazing intensely at her as she finished her meal slowly.

"Ever since we first met." She revealed, and his smirk widened as he plucked the glass from her hand, setting it on the cart as well as her empty plate.

"Well, why don't you tell me about your favorite ones? Maybe we can bring them to life…" he purred, crawling over her with a predatory look. She raked her gaze over him, his body taut and ready to do anything she'd like with him. She licked her lips before giving him a slow nod.

"Sounds like something I'd be happy to do." she breathed out as she looked up at him again, his eyes intense and bright.

"That's my girl."

…

"I can't believe you're bringing me back here." Donatella grinned widely at Bucky as he led her down the street towards the pub where she crooned to him during karaoke.

"I thought it would be fitting. We kissed here for the first time, remember. So, technically this place is a part of our history." He shot her a wink and a smile before pushing open the door, his eyes immediately finding the booth they had frequented and pulling her towards it. They had a different waitress, but ordered pretty much the same thing they always had, and Don felt really, truly happy for the first time in ages.

"I miss being here. Just the two of us, nothing to do all day but be with each other…" she sighed, tracing her finger over the rim of her glass. He gave her a sad grin, reaching out to grab her hand on the table, his leather glove cool against her skin.

"I do too. But there's so much for us to look forward to, I don't want us pining away for the past." He shook his head, his thumb circling over the back of her hand. "Besides, you would die if you didn't get to see Tony and Peter at least twice a week." He rolled his eyes.

"Don't act like you're not the same with Steve and Sam!" She barked out a laugh, leaning forward as he scrunched his nose in a disgusted look.

"I would never - of course I wouldn't - I _hate_ Sam!" He scoffed, his lip curling into a sneer.

"Sure you do. That's why you go out of your way to talk to him every day." She nodded, highly amused by his reaction. He made a small growling noise as she sipped her ale nonchalantly.

"I don't talk to him. I bully him. There's a difference." He sniffed, not meeting her eyes.

"You know Dwight and Jim from the Office, right?" She asked, and he gave a slow nod. "Well, you and Sam are like them."

"We are n-" he blinked, stopping his thoughts before giving another slow nod. "Huh."

"See?" She grinned, and he merely sighed again.

"Okay, it's our anniversary, can we please stop talking about Sam and Steve? I just want to think about us."

"Your wish is my command." She chuckled, but before he could reply their waitress dropped off their food. Their day had been spent mostly in bed, with a nice big room service brunch, but it was quite late before they had managed to leave the hotel. He had managed to bribe her to leave, saying the faster they got back from dinner, the faster they could try out the jacuzzi tub. Of course she was extremely ready to give it a go, so she ate quickly.

"What's the rush?" He asked her as she cleared her plate and pushed it forwards.

"You're forgetting you promised me jacuzzi time tonight?" She raised her eyebrows. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"I was thinking we could play one last round of pool. For old times sake?" He gave her a shy, hopeful look, and she pretty much melted at those puppy dog eyes.

"Your wish is my command?" She echoed her statement from before, giving a soft laugh as he grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the table. He pulled a receipt and a pencil from his pocket, ripping the paper in half and handing a piece to her.

"Time to place your bets." He gave her a quick grin before scribbling something on his paper and handing her the pencil. He stuffed the paper into his pocket before she managed to say anything.

"I can't bet anything when I already have everything." She teased. "What more could I want if I have you?"

"Humor me. Please?" He flashed her a smile, and she pretty much melted again at the shy look in his eyes. What was with this gentlemanly act he had going? Not that she was complaining, she found it extremely endearing. But where had her cocky, sure as shit Bucky gone? She missed him a little bit.

She scribbled down "ice cream" on her paper and stuck it into her own pocket. He handed her a pool stick and racked up the balls, but let her break. She was a bit rusty, but so was he, and they laughed as they played horribly for nearly the entire game. She was stripes, and he was solids, and she kept accidentally sinking his.

"You're really not doing well tonight." He teased, and she swatted at him, but watched appreciatively as he leaned over the table, his jeans tightening against his thighs as he sunk his last shot.

"You're distracting, I can't help it." She pretended to pout as he lined up his final shot, the eight ball the last thing he needed to pocket.

"Doll, if I can play without getting distracted by you, then you can do the same for me." He gave her a sideways grin before shooting the cue ball off towards the eight, sinking it perfectly and winning the game.

"Dammit, I was hoping we could get ice cream after this." She groaned, putting her stick back on the wall. "What did you bet?" She could hear the murmurs from the rest of the patrons in the bar around the corner, but it was slow that night, so she couldn't see anyone as he stepped closer to her.

"Here." He fished the paper out of his pocket and slipped it between her fingers. She gave him a curious glance, but unfolded it and read it aloud.

"Donatella, will you marry… oh my god." She nearly dropped the paper as he knelt down in front of her, a ring box opened between his fingers. She pressed her hand to her mouth, taking a stumbling step backwards as she gazed down at the heart-shaped pink sapphire.

"Donatella, I know it's only been a year. And even though most of that year was spent apart, I still think we've waited long enough for this." His voice wavered, but his eyes stayed glued strongly to hers as she felt tears filling her eyes. "When I first met you, I thought you were annoying. I thought… well, I thought you were oblivious and stupid for even helping me."

"Oh, god." she couldn't believe he'd called her oblivious and stupid during his fucking proposal.

"But," he continued, "the more I stuck around you, the less I wanted to leave." He admitted, and she took in a stuttering gasp as he continued. "There's something about you that just makes me feel good. I feel like _I'm_ good with you. I've done so many bad things, _so _many. I've completely changed as a person. But you're my one steady thing. You probably deserve better than the sort of life I can give you, but I want to be selfish with you. I want to hide away from the rest of the world with you. I want to have babies with you, enough for a whole baseball team." She laughed at this. "I want to make breakfast with you, lunch, dinner, I want to take care of you the same way you take care of me.

"I can't believe I have the chance to be able to love you as much as I do. When I was with HYDRA, I thought that was it for me. Well, I barely thought then. But, you helped me remember who I was, who I'm _supposed_ to be. And I know that who I'm supposed to be is yours, your friend, the person you turn to when you get scared, or angry, hurt, or lost. I would move mountains for you, I don't care why. I won't ask why. I'd just do it because it would make you happy.

"We belong together, Donatella. We got a little bit lost on our way here, but we made it back. We got a second chance, and if this doesn't work out, then I'm not stopping until we get a third chance, or fourth, or as many as it takes to get back to you. Because we're in this together. Forever." He finished, and she took a stuttering breath. She was speechless for a moment, tears streaming down her face shamelessly at that point.

"Angel, I've never heard you speak so much before." She croaked out, falling to her knees in front of him as a sob escaped her.

"What's wrong?!" He suddenly panicked. She sniffled as he leaned forward, wrapping her into a hug.

"I love you. So much." she sobbed into his shoulder, wrapping her arms tightly around him. She suddenly leaned back, looking into his eyes. Emotions were rolling over his expression, confusion, fear, hope, and overall adoration shone through.

"So, what do you say?" he sounded hopeful, and she felt herself nod vigorously.

"_Yes,_ yes, of course." she sniffed, and a beaming smile broke out over his face, his tense posture relaxing. "I can't believe you even doubted I'd say yes." she chuckled, wiping her face.

"Well, I can't read your mind. Some verbal nuances help a lot." he teased her, and she felt a pang. That was something she'd said to him once, long ago, when they had first met. They'd been through so much together, it was almost insane. She reminisced on the simpler times, where all they had was each other. It had been fun, but things had only gotten better since then.

"We should probably get up now, huh?" she chuckled. They were both still sitting on the floor of the pub, behind the pool table, hidden away from the rest of the word. God, it was them, it was just so _them_.

"Probably." he gave her a small smile, and she felt herself laugh. He stood up easily, reaching a hand down, but instead of pulling her up like she expected, he slipped the metal band onto her finger, the silver metal cool against her hand. It felt heavy, but not uncomfortable. She admired it for a moment before he hefted her up, and she stumbled into his chest with a giggle.

"I'm kind of in shock right now." she admitted as he led her back towards the door, tugging her along steadily.

"Yeah, me too." she heard him breathe out, and he turned slightly to the side, flashing her a bright, special smile, one that she knew she would be the only one to see. It was just for her, _he_ was just for her. Forever. Her heart stuttered in her chest as she looked at him, slight stubble defining his jaw, his hair still short, making him look younger, more carefree. She couldn't stop looking at him, honestly. He was intoxicating, every small detail about him. The cleft in his chin, the way his fingers tightened around hers imperceptibly whenever they passed a stranger, the light look in his eyes when he would glance back at her. Sure, she appreciated him physically, maybe more than she should, but there was something about him that just softened the edges of her heart. He was all for her, his laugh, his sweet kisses, everything.

She glanced down at their intertwined hands again, seeing the sparkling gem on her finger. It was all so… surreal. She hadn't expected this to come up so suddenly, but then again, everything had happened so quickly with them. She wanted to jump off the edge of the unknown with him, start building their life together. Permanently. He would be her husband… the word was heavy. Yet, she got butterflies in her stomach just thinking about it. She knew that this wouldn't make everything easy, it wouldn't fix everything that had happened between them…

But it was a start.

She remembered the first time that he had rushed her back to their apartment like this. There were rushed, stolen kisses, a sense of something frantic… like, if they didn't get back and solidify what had happened, the magic would vanish. But she knew now that that wasn't the case. She had loved him long before he bet that kiss, and she would love him long after. She would have waited years for him to be ready for her, because she just knew that nobody else would be right for her. And she was alright with that.

When they finally made it back to the hotel room, he set the now empty velvet box on the bedside table. She let go of his hand reluctantly as he went to go start filling the tub, and she took a moment to admire the ring. It sparkled a lot more than she expected it to, and she noticed a few small diamonds surrounding the faceted gem in the center. It was really spectacular.

"Should I take this off before I go in the water?" she called out, and he popped his head out with a stern look.

"You _already_ want to take it off?" he asked incredulously. She felt a bubble of laughter escape her.

"No, I just don't want to ruin it. It should be fine, right?" she wiggled her fingers in front of him, and he rolled his eyes.

"If I can put my arm in the water, that little ring will be fine." he huffed. She smiled, kicking off her shoes before slowly walking over to him.

"Don't worry, angel. I didn't plan on taking this off again." she grinned.

"You're too good to me, sweetheart." he gave her a genuine smile as she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly. She felt perfect. He was warm, safe, and all hers.

"So, is it time to try out the tub?" she asked, looking up at him with a conspiratory smile. His eyes glimmered down at her, and she smirked back up at him.

"I thought you'd never ask." he smiled and she took a step back, fingers reaching for the hem of her top, playing with the cloth for a millisecond before pulling it up and over her head. She let it dangle from her fingertips for a moment before letting it drop, and she felt good, the way his eyes raked over her made her skin buzz with anticipation. Her fingers dropped to the button of her skirt, and she popped it out before slipping it down her thighs, letting it pool on the ground before stepping out of it.

"Your turn." she teased him, sounding a bit breathless as she stood there in her bra and underwear. He swallowed, hard, a small smirk playing over his lips. He mirrored her previous actions, pulling his shirt over his head to reveal all those golden rippling muscles, that smattering of dark hair peeking out from the waistband of his underwear just begging to be freed. He leaned forwards then, hands gripping her shoulders and practically pulling her up onto her tiptoes, searing lips pressing against hers and making her brain melt out of her ears. She could kiss him forever, honestly. There was nothing that felt better than just touching him, feeling him pressed against her, his hard, rough body just begging to be explored. His hands were splayed across her bare back, they were large and warm and she shivered in anticipation as his metal fingers unclasped her bra.

She helped him slide it off, and one hand snuck around between their bodies to squeeze at her chest, fingers leaving a trail of goosebumps in the steam filled bathroom.

"Cold?" he murmured against her lips as she shivered, wishing she was in the hot water.

"A little." she replied breathily, her hand trailing at the waistband of his underwear and tugging at them. She wanted them off, and fast. He obliged, quickly shucking them off and slipping hers down in almost the same movement. He moved fast, the serum running through his veins giving him the upper hand in situations like these. She giggled when his hands trailed over her sides, nudging her backwards until the backs of her knees hit the ceramic. She wobbled a bit, smiling into the his lips as he grasped her tightly around her waist, lifting her with ease and settling her into the steaming water.

She felt herself gasp as the water heated her, nearly scorching. It felt too good, especially once Bucky climbed in after her and pressed himself into her, his length laying thick and heavy between her thighs as he lowered them into the water. She was surprisingly comfortable in the tub, and when the jets turned on she gave a small yelp. Bucky smirked down at her, mouthing hot kisses onto her jawline and down her throat, and she couldn't help the obscene noises that left her at that point.

Donatella ground herself into him, almost whimpering with need as one hand slipped between them to brush against her swollen clit. She gasped and moaned as he teased at the small bud, teeth biting hard into her lip to try and control herself.

"You feel too good." he gasped against her skin as he ground his length into her. He licked a trail between her breasts. "_Taste_ too good, too." he groaned.

"Just fuck me, Barnes." Donatella practically whimpered, needing him to get the job done sooner rather than later.

"Your wish is my command, sweetheart." she could feel him smirking against her skin as inch by torturous inch he sheathed himself inside of her, the pads of his fingers never stopping their slow circles around her bundle of nerves. She almost came right then and there, but then he started to move, slow strokes that sent waves of water rushing over her skin, enhancing his touches by a tenfold.

"God, I can't wait to marry you." he stuttered as she shuddered beneath him, her nails digging into his shoulders as an attempt to ground herself.

"I can barely wait for the honeymoon sex." she gasped, feeling her head drop back and rest on the lip of the tub as she tipped over the edge, and a few more pumps of his hips later Bucky followed, pressing his forehead into her shoulder, his breath hot against her skin.

"You and me both, gorgeous."

**Hi all! Thank you so much for all of your support on the third installment of Bucky and Don's story. Updates might be a bit slower this time, I'm thinking every three to four days for updates, but I promise I'm working hard to conclude this right! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: No One Like You **

Donatella was lonely. It was strange, feeling this way after always having Bucky at her side. It was impossible for her to fall asleep at this point, she was worried sick.

He had been sent out on a weeklong mission with Steve and Wanda, it was a rescue for some important politician's family from a terrorist group. Logically she knew that she should be worried about them, but the selfish part of her could only think about Bucky. She didn't know what she would do if he came back hurt.

Or worse - what if he didn't come back at all?

Her head was whirling as she laid in bed, thinking about the terrible things that could happen while he was gone. This always happened, every time he had to leave for work her mind would shift into overdrive. She could barely sleep, could barely eat, sick with worry. She felt quite pathetic, really, she survived most of her life without him, surely she could stand a few days without being with him.

But it was agony, thinking about all of the things that could go wrong. What would she do? Could she go on without him? Even if she could, _would_ she? What did she have without him? Her career, Tony and Peter. She'd found a few unlikely friends as well, like Steve and Natasha, even Wanda and Clint. All of the people she worked with, all of the people _Bucky_ worked with… that ragtag group had grown on her. What would they do if she lost Bucky?

Steve would surely be hit just as hard by the loss as she would. She would have someone to hide away with, at least. But he wouldn't be her Bucky. Nobody could ever replace him, not their banter, or the way that he could make her feel. Without him, she was… hollow. A shell of nothing. Surely she'd work herself half to death again, like she had the first time they'd been separated. God, it all felt so long ago… But no matter what it was him.

And it was _always_ gonna be him. He was it for her.

These thoughts caused her to toss and turn until she could hardly stand it anymore, her eyes wouldn't even close in an attempt to sleep at that point. She decided to get up, glancing at the clock to see it was almost two in the morning. It wasn't _that_ late, but it was much later than she usually drifted off. She stood in the doorway of her bedroom, unsure of what to do. Maybe take a sleeping pill? No, they were Bucky's and she knew that the dosage may have been too strong for her… fortunately, when the door unlocked her decision was made for her.

She padded towards the front door, she could hear him shuffling into the apartment, and she felt relieved. He was _safe_.

"Bucky?" she whispered into the darkness, and she saw his form standing still in the darkness. She rushed forwards, wrapping her arms around him and breathing in his scent. That musky, spicy smell of him mixed with… copper. There was a metallic tang in the air around him, and she jolted backwards, immediately searching him for injuries. He hadn't said anything yet, hadn't even moved, and she was relieved to see that he wasn't injured…

But he wasn't alright. She could see his face illuminated in the moonlight, spattered with blood that wasn't his, his eyes wide but dim. She knew this look. He was stuck in his memories, of being the Winter Soldier.

"Oh, Buck." she choked, wrapping him in another hug, realizing that she was smearing half-dried blood on her pajamas, but at that point she didn't care. She knew he needed help to snap out of this spell. And first things first, she needed to clean him up. Being covered in dead men's blood surely wasn't helping his state. She unwrapped her arms from around him, grabbing his metal hand and tugging him towards the bathroom. He stumbled along behind her, his feet shuffling in his boots, but he wasn't very responsive to her. When he got like this… it was like he was a ghost, he didn't speak, he was on autopilot.

She reached inside the shower and twisted the knobs until hot water streamed from the showerhead. Once she'd adjusted the temperature, she turned to him once more, meeting his eyes in hopes that she would see something there.

Nothing. They were blank and dull, his face composed, not revealing a thing to her of what he was feeling. She sighed, reaching up to take off his tactical uniform. Any other day she would appreciate the way he looked in it, how he filled it out. Dark colors really suited him, she noted. But now wasn't the time for that. Now was the time to care for him, in the way that he needed, not what she wanted. There was a delicate balance between that. She wanted to know what was wrong, she wanted her Bucky to snap out of this state. But she knew love wasn't easy, and that she had to take the good and the bad in stride. After all, he'd done the same for her, and more.

The way that he just stood there as she methodically pulled the pieces of his uniform off broke her heart. He'd revealed to her, once before, that when he got in this mindset he was back in his HYDRA days, thinking it was his doctors prepping him to go back into cryo. It hurt, knowing that she couldn't do anything to pull him from this state. But she could do her best to take care of him while he was like this.

Once she finished undressing him, she quickly stripped off her own clothes and pulled him into the shower. There wasn't anything sexual in this time, she just needed to wash him up. She lathered the soap across him, his expression like stone as the water ran down his face. He wasn't even looking at her. He stared straight ahead, just over the top of her head.

She scrubbed at his skin, making it turn pink as she got all the blood off. She couldn't look at him like this, not when she knew what was going on inside his head. Sure, he might look calm on the outside, but he was on the brink of either a breakdown or a meltdown, and she wanted to be clothed when it happened. She took care in making sure she rinsed him down sufficiently before grabbing a few towels and tossing one on top of his head as she patted his skin dry, neglecting herself for the moment. He stood stock still, body tense, but his expression was empty.

Donatella managed to wrap the towel around his waist before she pulled her robe on, then she went to work on his hair. Now that it was shorter, it was much easier to dry, but she struggled to reach up that high.

"Bucky, can you please lean down?" she murmured, but he had no response. Her stomach clenched, but she sighed and stood on the edge of the tub to finish her job. She was eye level with him, she was looking right into his face, but there was no recognition there. That hollow, dead look… she shuddered. It mirrored Antoni's, in all of her dreams, the empty eyes, the stoic face. She could hardly stand to look at him when he was like this. She knew she'd have nightmares that night, no doubt about it. But it wasn't his fault. That was the worst of it, _none_ of this was his fault. HYDRA was gone, destroyed, and yet they'd left him this way. She knew that no matter how much time would pass, there would still be nights like this. And she _hated_ them for it. But how could she hate a ghost? She had no outlet for it, and she had no right. Bucky had accepted this as a part of him, and so should she. He had once said that he wouldn't change his past for anything, knowing that if one small thing had been changed none of this could have happened for them. And she agreed. But that didn't mean she had to like this state he was in.

Once they had both been dried well enough, Donatella grabbed his hand and led him back into their bedroom. It was eerie, the dark apartment, the silent footsteps behind her. It wasn't eerie, she realized, it was… she couldn't explain it. There was a dark sadness that permeated the space, and she felt tears choke her, her eyes filling up and her throat tightening with the effort of holding in her sobs. She had no right to be upset, this was about _him_. But she couldn't help it, she thought to herself as she tugged his towel off. It was hard for her to accept his pain. She wanted to fix it, she wanted to make it better so badly… she sighed, frustrated as she struggled to get him into a pair of sweatpants. He helped a bit, but he was still unaware of his surroundings. She managed to get him dressed in pants and a tank, slipping out of her own robe to put on some shorts and an old, ratty t-shirt that she dug from the bottom of her dresser.

After a few deep, calming breaths, she grabbed both of his hands again, tugging him towards the bed and getting him to lay down. She had a bit of a struggle, pulling the blankets from under him, but he helped out a little, shifting around to let her get the comforter. She pulled the blanket over him, tucking it around his shoulders and pressing a kiss to his temple. He didn't move, but his eyes flickered towards her for a moment when she sat on the bed next to him. She felt a little creepy, just staring at him while he laid there, wide blue eyes staring straight up at the ceiling. She leaned over him to rake her fingers through his damp hair, the short locks sticking up in an endearing way. He looked so young like this, his skin looked pale in the moonlight. He _was_ young when this happened to him, probably no older than she was now. Seventy years of brainwashing… god, it was a nightmare for her. Who was she kidding? It was his own nightmare, but she couldn't help but feel for him. She gave every piece of herself to him, and he gave himself right back… the good and the bad. And she wouldn't be afraid of it, she had to accept it all. She was going to marry this man. All of him. All of his weaknesses, all of his strengths, it was all hers.

She swallowed her pride, getting up from his side and tiptoeing around to her side. She stood for a moment, collecting herself, not wanting to cry as soon as she got under the covers with him when he was so out of it. Once she was sufficiently calm, she pulled her side of the comforter up and slipped under it, settling into the spot that she'd been in just before he got home. Glancing over at the clock, she noted the time, before there was a sharp gasp beside her and Bucky sat up quickly, clutching at his chest. She sat up immediately, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as his body shuddered with sobs.

She was almost relieved as he began to cry, he was at least out of that awful state. She squeezed her arms around him more tightly, trying to find the words to say at least something to him, something to soothe him. He turned towards her, nestling his head in the crook of her neck, tears wetting the shoulder of her shirt. Her heart ached, and her own eyes filled up again as she stroked the hair at the base of his neck. He was shaking in her arms, she had to be solid for him, like he always was for her. His breath was warm against her shirt, his arms wrapped tightly around her torso as he cried. He was always so strong for everyone, but when it was just the two of them… he could show his soft vulnerabilities, and she loved him more for it.

"Hey, it's okay." she whispered as she leaned herself back so that they were laying down, him still curled into her side, his face still resting on her shoulder. She stroked her hand up and down his back, softly raking her nails soothingly over the fabric of his shirt. He sagged bonelessly into her, his breaths puffing out more and more evenly with each minute that passed until she could tell he drifted off to sleep. She continued to rub his back, trying to keep him calm and relaxed and asleep, hoping bad dreams wouldn't plague him that night. God knows he didn't deserve that, not after everything he'd been through.

When she woke up the next morning, they were still in pretty much the same position, but his tears had dried. He didn't appear to have any nightmares during the night, any movement or noise would have probably woken her up. He was sleeping peacefully, soft breaths puffing against her neck. She could lay like that all morning, honestly. She was so glad he was resting, that he wasn't upset, or angry, or in that death-like state that he'd been in when he got home the night before.

She glanced over at the clock and groaned, knowing she had to go into the compound that day. She had gotten used to sleeping in while she was on leave, but now she was working again. Bucky had to go in that day too, training and planning and all of the other top-secret team junk that the Avengers did. She wasn't privy to that information, but she had a whole mess of her own to take care of in the labs. She worked with Tony occasionally, but most of the time she was on her own in there. Tony often told her that once they found Banner, he would be back in the labs with her, but it had been almost two years since anyone had seen the Hulk. The whole team was hurt by it, but she had never met the man. Sure, she'd heard of him, he was famous in the academic world for his work, but he wasn't quite in her study field, so she didn't know a whole lot about the doctor. Everyone spoke highly of him, and Natasha even showed _emotion_ when she talked about the man.

And it was hard to get that woman to show her true feelings.

Bucky began to stir, and she held her breath, trying to keep still so he wouldn't get startled. She wished he would sleep just a little bit longer, he really needed the rest. She noticed that he'd barely taken a break, the shadows under his eyes staining deeper and deeper with each passing sleepless night. At least he'd gotten rest this time, sometimes she'd wake up in the early hours of the morning and he'd still be reading, or even just laying there wide awake. She could get him to take his sleeping pills occasionally, but he really didn't like them, he said they stopped him from escaping his nightmares. She ached as she thought about it. He either was exhausted or tormented. Donatella wished she could fix things.

"Morning, sweetheart." he mumbled into her shoulder, pressing his lips against her neck. She felt herself smile faintly, and she brought her hand up to scratch at the base of his neck. He let out a small noise, something distinctly catlike, before he pushed himself up on his forearms to smile at her.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, taking her other hand and pushing some of the longer pieces from his face. She wanted to see him, there wasn't a moment that she didn't want to see his gorgeous face, especially not when he was lively, when he was her Bucky.

"Better." he revealed, pressing his lips against her temple, mirroring her actions from the night before. "I'm sorry." he sighed, pressing his forehead against hers as he closed his eyes, and she tugged a piece of his hair sharply.

"Don't be. It's not your fault." she frowned, keeping eye contact with him. His eyes clouded over with guilt for a moment before they cleared, relief shining in his expression.

"I wish I didn't get like that." he sighed, pushing himself back up off of her and sitting next to her, playing with her hair absentmindedly.

"We all wish we could change things about ourselves. But I wouldn't change this for the world, Bucky, I love all of you. Even the bad stuff." she gave him an encouraging smile, and his expression softened as he gazed down at her.

"I think I'm the luckiest man in the universe, doll." he grinned lazily.

"And don't you forget it." she smiled, sitting up to peck him on the lips. Of course he wouldn't let her get away with just a quick kiss, he tangled his hand in her hair to deepen it, and she felt herself melting. "Buck, I didn't brush my teeth." she laughed breathily as he pulled away for air.

"Neither did I, doll." he smirked.

"It's gross, wonderboy." she shook her head as he leaned back in.

"We can be gross together." he coaxed her, and she laughed, giving in for the moment, letting him kiss her breathless as the sun beamed over his skin. He was glowingly fresh, that pale, lifeless look had left him sometime during the night and he was a pure fucking ray of sunshine again. She loved him best when he was like this, all lazy smiles and drowsy kisses and mussed up hair. He was just too perfect. He let out a groan when she pulled away, giving her an exasperated look.

"We have to get ready for work." she let out a soft chuckle.

"Tease." he huffed, standing up and stretching, and that ever-tantalizing strip of flesh above his waistband was revealed for a moment.

"_You_ started it, Sergeant." she smiled, standing up and mirroring his actions on the opposite side of the bed. He gave her a look before padding towards the bathroom, and she heard the sink start as he began to brush his teeth.

"What are you working on today?" he called from the bathroom, but his question was muffled due to the toothbrush that was in his mouth.

"Tony wants me to look over some of his suits, see if I can help him improve the scanning sensors." she responded as she picked out some clothes. A tan pencil skirt and a navy button up would do, she didn't have any meetings to dress up for. She managed to pick out a pair of cork wedges as well, her comfiest heels. Maybe she should work on making a comfortable insole? Or she should just focus on her actual work. Footwear wasn't quite that important to her at the moment.

"I think Nat wants you to look at her Widow bites, she wants to increase the accuracy." Bucky reappeared in the doorway, opening his dresser drawers to pick out a pair of dark jeans.

"She should know I don't work in the weapons department." Don sighed, changing quickly, frowning at a pair of pantyhose as she decided on whether or not she wanted to wear them. She decided the struggle to get into them wasn't worth it, so she set them back in the drawer.

"But you are the best." he mentioned with a smile, and she rolled her eyes.

"I highly doubt that." she gave a small laugh as she took her turn in the bathroom, brushing her teeth. He followed her in and she gave him a weird look. "Why are you watching me?" she mumbled around the toothpaste, trying not to drool all over her shirt.

"I just missed you yesterday." he shrugged. She gave him a suspicious look but didn't think much about it.

"Well, do you want to get some cereal out from the cupboard? I'll be out in ten minutes, I've gotta do my makeup." Don said after she spit. He gave a small nod, a slight grin, and he breezed out to the kitchen, letting her wash her face and slap on her face in peace. She loved the man, but he didn't need to watch her try to put on mascara. That was way too embarrassing. Once she finished making herself look, well, alive again, she met her fiance in the kitchen. It was crazy to think of him as that, and she thought the word was cheesy, but until they were married she would have to call him that. They'd decided on a summer wedding, cliche, but it worked best with everyone's schedules that they wanted to be there.

"We're almost out of milk, should we stop at the store on the way home tonight?" Bucky asked, and she gave a small nod.

"I don't have any plans except for coming back here and laying on the couch all night." she laughed as she sat, rationing her portion.

"That's all you're having?" he frowned at the small bowl as he poured himself some cereal.

"I'm trying to get down a dress size. Natasha said she'll help me work out on weekends." she explained, taking a bite of her cereal.

"What are you trying to go down a size for? I like your size." he sounded weirdly offended, and she gave him a strange look.

"Well, I want to look good on our wedding day." she said meekly, tucking her hair behind her ear as it threatened to swing down into her bowl. He gave her another one of his looks.

"You already look perfect, Don." his frown deepened, and he eyes her figure curiously. She rolled her eyes.

"Thank you, but I'm not losing weight for _you_, I'm doing it for me." Donatella sighed, dropping her spoon. "Why are you being so weird about it?"

"I'm not!" he sounded way too defensive with that, and she gave him a scrutinizing glare. "I just… I don't want you to feel like you have to change anything about yourself. You're absolutely perfect." he repeated, and she felt herself flush. God, all this time later and he could still make her blush like a kid.

"You're such a smooth talker." she grinned at him, taking another bite of her cereal. He gave her a small smirk before rolling his eyes.

"Only for you." he chuckled, something warm shining in his eyes. God, she couldn't wait to marry that man. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she almost groaned at the interruption. She glanced down at the phone, seeing that Tony was calling her. "Who is it?" Bucky asked, and she frowned, glancing up at him.

"It's Tony, I should take this." she muttered, standing up and answering the call. "Hello?"

"Houston, we have a problem." Tony panted, and she looked at Bucky, alarmed at the inflection in his voice.

"What's happening?" she asked, putting the call on speaker.

"We've got an invasion happing in t-minus three seconds. I need you and Manchurian candidate to get to the compound and round up Vision, we've gotta destroy the stone. There's a jet ready to take you to Wakanda, Shuri and T'Challa are briefed and Steve is ready."

"Where are you? What's going on?" she asked as she heard static on his end.

"Just go, kid! I wish I had more time to explain." he groaned as a howling wind came over his end, and he swore under his breath. "I need you to be as fast as possible, okay?"

"Tony, are you going to be okay?" she asked, feeling panicked as she glanced up at Bucky. He was pale, staring wide-eyed at her.

"I make no promises. Kid, you've gotta get going, this is time sensitive and we've got a crazy titan on our hands." Tony reminded her as more static crackled over the phone, and there was shouting in the background. She gulped audibly, her hand shaking.

"Don't get dead, okay?" she choked out, and it was quiet on the other end.

"Earth won't lose her best defender. Don't worry about me, just get safe." he said after a moment of hesitation, the line clicking off.

"An alien invasion?" Bucky was pale, and she bit her lip.

"We've got to get going." she said softly. He nodded, standing quickly and rushing to the bedroom, taking a few moments to change into his freshly cleaned tactical gear. As soon as he stepped out she wrapped her arms around him, quickly squeezing him.

"We'll make it through this." he smoothed a hand over her hair before pulling back, leading her to the door.

"Together." she nodded.

"Always together."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Bleeding Love**

"This is insane." Donatella tried not to scream as they sped down the back roads towards the compound. She saw the giant ship touch down in New York, looking like a weird chrome donut, and she felt the fear ice in her veins. New York had barely survived the _first_ alien invasion, so she had no idea what would happen this time.

"This has happened before?" Bucky demanded, glaring suspiciously out the windows as if they would get abducted at any moment.

"Yeah, probably like a few years before I met you. It was insane, we had to evacuate the city and everything." she frowned, slowing as they reached the gates to the compound.

"Were you okay after?" he shot her a worried glance. She gave a short nod, she hadn't been anywhere close to Stark tower at the time, but there was still citywide devastation. Some things still weren't completely rebuilt.

"And we'll be okay after this one. Tony can handle this, he handled the first one beautifully." she tried to give him an encouraging smile, but his worried look never left. She pursed her lips as she drove up the gravel road to the compound, a wake of dust appearing behind her as she sped up. They didn't have much time to waste. When she got into the parking garage, Steve, Natasha, Sam, and Vision were all waiting. She got out quickly, leaving the keys in the car as she strode over.

"Wheels up in ten, Wanda's on the jet already." Steve announced to them as they approached.

"What exactly is going on? Tony wasn't very descriptive." Donatella asked, and Natasha sighed, shaking her head, her newly dyed blonde locks framing her face.

"It's confusing to us all, but we have somebody that can explain." she gave a cautious glance behind her, and a new face stepped out. Donatella recognized him from his files and articles, her mouth dropping open.

"Dr. Banner?" she asked, and he crossed the room, a sheepish look on his face. Bucky said nothing, but she could see the curious look on his face. "How did you-where were you?" her eyebrows furrowed. There was no trace of him on earth, at all.

"He was in space. On another planet." Pepper Potts' voice called out as she approached. Her expression was gaunt, and she looked upset.

"What she said." Banner confirmed. "You must be Donatella, I've heard great things about you in the past fifteen minutes." he reached forward to shake her hand, but Bucky held her wrist back from him, giving the scientist a distrusting look.

"Buck, it's fine." Steve soothed his friend, clapping his hand on Bucky's shoulder. He released Donnie's hand and she managed to give the doctor a quick shake.

"So, can anyone tell me what's going on? Pepper, where is Tony? And Peter? Is he safe?" she pressed for answers, not knowing was driving her insane. Pepper's eyes flashed with hurt, and she felt her stomach drop.

"They're on the ship." she croaked, her eyes turning towards the floor. Pepper was usually very strong, very outspoken, but…

"What ship?" Donnie demanded. Steve's gave her a pitiful look, and she pressed her hand to her chest, stumbling backwards into Bucky's arm. "No, no, they can't be… those _idiots_!" she swore, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We've got to go after them!"

"We can't." Banner shook his head, and Natasha frowned at the back of his head. This was all too much, there was so much going on, and now she was worried for her friend. She knew that they hadn't parted on good terms, so this must be awful for the assassin. "Thanos is coming, I'm telling you. We have to get the gem from Vision so that Wanda can destroy it."

"And how exactly are we supposed to do that? We don't have the… Wakanda. That's why we're going to Wakanda." Donatella realized, and Natasha gave her a sharp nod.

"There isn't much time, Donatella. We need your help, Shuri's gonna need your brain." Steve sighed, giving her a pleading look. She felt her heart rate speed up at the severity of the situation, and she gave a nod.

"You said wheels up in ten? That was five minutes ago. Come on, Rogers, let's get on schedule." she gave a weak laugh, stalking off in the direction of the hangar. The rest of the group scattered, most likely grabbing weapons and other things that they would require. She knew the lab in Wakanda would have everything she'd need, so she boarded the jet first, giving a hesitant smile towards Wanda. The girl wasn't quite a girl anymore, she was definitely coming into her own. But this… she didn't deserve to have to go through this. She'd been through enough in her life.

"So, this is all kinds of crazy…" Wanda mentioned quietly, her eyes revealing her pain. Donatella came forwards, kneeling beside her. She wasn't that close with the woman, but they were still friends, they were on the same team for sure.

"We won't lose Vision." Donnie tried to smile reassuringly at the girl. "Believe me, I've lost Bucky more times than I'd like to admit, and I know how much it hurts. I know this is scary, that someone is out for the gem in his head. But Shuri and I can do it. Neither of us can do it alone, but as long as we have each other, we can do it." a determined edge glinted in Wanda's eyes, her irises rimmed with red magic.

"I need to be there for him." she whispered, and Don gave her a nod.

"Of course. Anything you need, Wanda, and we'll find a way." she smiled, and the rest of the team began to board. They had a few minutes before they would be ready to launch, and Bucky came over to help her up off her knees, buckling her into a seat before taking the spot next to her. He held back a groan as Sam sat on his other side, the man making a face at the Winter Soldier.

"This is gonna be a long flight." she sighed at Steve, who claimed the seat on her other side.

"Won't be too bad. Now, talk to me about the wedding plans so far." he gave her a reassuring grin, and she gave him an exasperated look.

"Steve, this isn't really the time. Tony and Peter are up in space, we're on our way to what's surely gonna be a horrific battle-" she babbled, nerves eating away at her stomach before Rhodey interrupted.

"Kid, just talk to us about anything other than the situation we're in right now." he sighed, giving her a look. She gulped, glancing around at the crestfallen expressions that every person on the ship wore.

"August eighth is the date, but you all should know that from the save-the-dates we sent out." she sighed, and nearly everyone nodded except for Banner.

"Oh, I, uh, didn't get one." he gave a teasing smile, and Steve chuckled at the doctor's joke.

"I'm sure we have a spare somewhere in the apartment." she shot him a smile, and Bucky tensed next to her. She tried to elbow him discreetly, but he shot her an annoyed look that everyone could see.

"Buck, find a suit yet?" Steve asked, and the man tensed, clearly uncomfortable about speaking in front of the entire group.

"Like he'd be able to go suit shopping by himself. He seems like the type of guy that needs his girl to get everything for him." Sam snorted, and she could sense Bucky's irritation flare, so she quickly placed her hand over his to calm him, trying to diffuse the situation.

"I've got one." Bucky replied through gritted teeth, and it went quiet again, at least until Wanda breached the silence.

"What about your dress? Did you get the one you were thinking of?" Wanda's eyes were wide and curious as she looked at Donatella, and she squirmed before shrugging.

"Well, I made an appointment at a bridal salon, I was actually hoping you, Natasha, and Pepper would like to come with." she gave the girl a small smile, and her eyes widened further, a happy look coming over her face.

"Wait, I'm not invited to go see the dresses?" Steve gave her a shocked look and Don rolled her eyes.

"No. You'd tell Bucky in three seconds." she felt herself beginning to relax as the conversation flowed, and the tense atmosphere began to ebb away. She wished Nat wasn't in the cockpit, she would be able to help the conversation along… but maybe it was a good thing that Natasha and Vision were away from the group, it seemed to keep the tension to a minimum. Especially with Banner present, and Wanda… well, she didn't need a reminder of what was about to happen.

"I would not!" Steve sounded offended at her reasoning, and Bucky gave a sharp laugh.

"Yes you would, punk." she sighed in relief as he relaxed into the conversation.

"You're still a jerk, Buck." Steve teased right back.

"I would like to say that I am also offended at not being invited to the dress thingy. Sitting in a fancy room with champagne? That's all me, baby!" Sam cracked a grin and she rolled her eyes.

"You are _not_ seeing the dress before I am, Falcon." Bucky spat, turning to face his best frenemy.

"Yeah, definitely not, Sam." Donatella grinned at the man, leaning forwards so she could see the look on his face. It was fun to gang up on him with Bucky, though she definitely didn't hate the man in the same way Bucky did.

"Excuse me!" his mouth dropped open. "I've got style!"

"You lack class, buddy." she gave a small laugh, and Bucky smirked down at her.

"I do not!" he almost whined back, and Steve let out a loud laugh. Everyone was surprised, he wasn't the type of guy to sound so carefree, especially not in recent years. But it was relieving, to say the least. Everyone else had smiles on their faces, even Rhodey.

"So, wait, there's a lot that I missed." Banner frowned, glancing around the group, and everyone sobered again. "What exactly went on when the other guy took me on a joy ride through space?"

"Well," Steve cleared his throat, knowing he was one of the original members of Banner's group, and the only one present to be of help to him. "After you disappeared, we took in Wanda." he smiled softly at the scarlet witch, and she gave a hesitant grin back.

"Well, I figured that out." Banner gave her an encouraging look. "But, well, the compound? The new members? And what's this I heard about you guys breaking up? Thor filled me in a little."

"You've seen Thor?" Donatella frowned. When had he met up with the demigod? She'd never even met him, though she'd only been around for a year.

"Yeah, he's the one who snapped me out of it, there was a whole incident with Asgard and then our ship got destroyed by Thanos. But enough about that stuff, I'm completely lost here." his eyes were wide and slightly panicked, and she bit her lip as she watched his expression morph into something anxious.

"It's alright, Banner. We've got the whole flight to explain what's going on." Steve cleared his throat. "We'd been looking for Bucky for a while, Vision was a good help with that. But, well, there was this whole mess after Ultron. People didn't really feel… safe, anymore." Steve sighed, and she felt her heart ache a little bit. None of the blame should have been placed on them, but they all felt the weight of it from the rest of the world.

"They wanted us to sign a bunch of papers to restrict our actions. We would've been the watchdogs of the politicians." Sam huffed in explanation, and Steve gave a small nod back.

"It was the right thing to do at the time." Rhodey defended, and she winced.

"I think that this is a discussion for another time, guys. The Accords were meant to be good, but you can't deny that there were a lot of issues with them." Donatella said carefully, and Rhodey gave a slow nod, leaning back in his seat.

"So, anyways, during that time, Bucky was framed for a terrorist bombing." Steve explained, and Don winced, reaching down to grip Bucky's hand. He squeezed back, obviously still upset from the whole situation. "A man who lost his family was trying to lure him out, and, well, succeeded. Tony and the others took Buck into captivity, as well as Sam and I." Steve sighed.

"And Donnie. You guys arrested her too, for no reason." Bucky shot a glare towards Rhodey, and the War Machine held his hands up defensively.

"Hey man, we don't have any beef. She even fixed up my spine, remember?" Rhodey raised an eyebrow.

"What happened to your spine?" Banner whirled to face him, curiosity and concern clear in his expression.

"Doc?" Rhodey nodded to Donatella, letting her take the lead with the medical jargon.

"Ah, it was a partial paralysis. Nerve damage between two of his lower vertebrae, but we managed to-" she was cut of by Rhodey.

"_You_. You managed to fix it. It was all you, Doc." he nodded respectfully towards her, and she gave a sheepish smile.

"_I_ managed to implement a device to bridge the synapse of the damaged nerves. As long as the Bridge is running, he's fine to walk." Donnie explained, Banner nodding along, understanding everything.

"So the Bridge, it's a repeater?" he sounded fascinated, and she wondered how starved for knowledge his brain was. He'd been gone for a long time, missing a lot of medical advances.

"More like a projector, if that makes sense." she corrected, and he nodded, understanding clear in his expression.

"Did I miss any more medical tech while I was gone?" he asked, glancing between the group.

"Belucci was busy, so we can get to the rest of those inventions later. For now, there's some more stuff you missed." Sam pursed his lips, continuing the conversation in a darker direction. "We had a big fight, everybody chose a side and we brawled it out."

"Buck and I followed the crazy guy to Siberia, where there were more winter soldiers." Steve continued. "But, he killed them before we got there, and he got away. He's in jail, now." Steve added.

"So you guys all kissed and made up?" Banner clarified.

"Sort of." Sam shrugged. "Tony and Don amended the Accords, got us back in good graces. We're still privatized, for now."

"That's why Bucky can be on the team." Steve explained. Donatella felt a bit of pride. She played a huge part in appealing the documents and helping Tony set up the Avengers new model.

"And the spider kid? He came to help Tony, I saw him for a minute." Banner explained, and Donatella tensed up. He saw Peter?

"Was he alright? Peter, is he okay?" she bit her lip as she asked the question, and Bucky squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"I-I saw him get beamed onto the ship, it was taking off with the wizard and Stark went up to get him. I think they're all still on it." her stomach sank. God, she had a little hope that they'd both be safe, but… where were they going? "God, I can't believe all that's going on on earth right now…" Banner shook his head, and Don gave him an encouraging smile.

"Hopefully all this will be over soon, and then we can get you completely caught up." she said to him, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"I think with you on our side, we might have a chance with the stone." Banner smiled at her, and she felt her ears burn at the compliment.

"She is the smartest Avenger." Sam nodded, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not an Avenger, Wilson." she joked.

"Honorary member." Steve appeased them both, and the group was quiet after that. She glanced over to Bucky. His face was contemplative, but his fingers were wound tightly with hers. His eyes were staring straight at the floor, and his teeth were gritted. She wondered what he was thinking? He didn't look happy. She wished that he had more time to recover from the night previous before he had to go out in the field again… this was too much stress. She squeezed his hand, and he snapped from his reverie, glancing towards her with a small, secret smile. She was surprised he was being as affectionate as he was in front of the group, usually he was uncomfortable with touching in public. Well, public was fine, he just wasn't okay with it in front of his teammates.

"How much longer, do you think?" Bruce asked Steve. He glanced towards the front of the jet, and she followed his gaze, seeing the plane diving down towards the trees.

"We're here." he announced, settling back while the plane made its descent. It was like they flew through a portal to a different world, one moment lush green was in front of them and the next the city was there. She smiled widely, it had been too long since she'd been there.

"I missed this place." she turned to grin at Bucky, and he gave a soft smile back.

"I missed being here with you." he replied quietly, and her heart skipped a beat. God, he could be so sweet sometimes. She squeezed his hand again as the plane landed smoothly, and the hatch opened to let them out. The only sound was everyone unbuckling, except for quiet whispering between Bruce and Rhodey. Natasha and Steve were of course the first ones out, and the rest quickly followed. They were greeted with what seemed to be a hundred Dora Milaje and T'Challa, Okoye right at his side. She barely spoke to the woman during her time in Wakanda, but she was strong and pretty badass. It felt good to have her on their side.

"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something." Steve strode forwards, shaking T'Challa's hand firmly as Nat followed close behind. Bruce cleared his throat, and Don glanced at him curiously, holding in a laugh as he bowed awkwardly to T'Challa. She bit her lip and glanced at the king to see his reaction.

"Uh, we, we don't do that here." the king held his hands up peacefully towards the doctor, and Don turned her face into Bucky's arm to hide her smile.

"Don't deny it, T'Challa, I'm sure you appreciated the reverence." she composed herself and stepped forward, giving the man a small hug. He had become a good friend to her and Bucky. He gave her a wide grin before replying.

"I am quite sure that you are mistaken, Doctor Belucci." he chuckled, before his face turned serious. "So, how big of an assault should we expect?" T'Challa held his hands together and began to walk with Steve, the rest of the group trailing behind.

"Uh, sir-sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault." Bruce sped up as he spoke, trying to reach the man to explain the situation.

"How we looking?" Nat asked the king, her voice all business. Now wasn't the time to speak of it, but she wanted to make sure the woman was alright with Banner being around.

"You will have my Kingsguard," T'Challa began, "the border patrol, Dora Milaje, and, well, you're the one with the White Wolf."

"So, a semi-stable hundred year old man." Bucky joked, shooting Steve a smile. The friends shared a look, somehow T'Challa fit in well with the pair.

"How have you been, Sergeant Barnes?" T'Challa asked. He let out a puff of air, taking a deep breath before grinning again.

"Not bad, for the end of the world." he replied, and the king shot him a knowing grin.

"I've received the wedding invitation. Shuri is quite excited for the trip to New York." T'Challa glanced between her and Bucky. She smiled sheepishly back.

"Is she in the lab? We've got some work to do." Don shot a look towards Vision, and the king nodded.

"She's on the second floor workspace, the underground lab is not equipped for the procedure." T'Challa explained, and she thanked him before grabbing Bucky's hand, leading him to the entrance to where her friend would be.

"I thought I heard trouble approaching." the girl smiled at her as soon as she stepped in the room. The women embraced, wrapping each other up in a hug.

"I've missed being here, you know." Don laughed, glancing out the gigantic bay windows that overlooked the beautiful landscape.

"And we've missed having you. Many people have been asking about in the village where you and Sergeant Barnes went to. Explaining that you moved home has been a nightmare." the girl chuckled, and Donnie shot her a beaming grin. "Sergeant Barnes, how was the transition?" Shuri settled her concerned gaze on him.

"Not quite as bad as I thought." he admitted, reaching forwards to pull the girl in a quick hug. Shuri wrapped her arms around his neck briefly before stepping backwards, the rest of the group trickling into the lab.

"We have no time to waste, unfortunately." Donnie said sheepishly as VIsion stepped forwards.

"I'll go outside with Sam, we've got work to do." Bucky pressed a quick kiss to the side of her head before hurrying off out the door, leaving T'Challa and Steve in the room with them.

"Please, Vision, lie back on this table. We will begin in a moment." Shuri gestured to the examination table, and the rest of the group shuffled around uncomfortably. She moved to stand on the opposite side of the table as Shuri began her scan, Bruce stepping up next to her.

"Whoa." Banner gasped as Shuri used her beads to complete the scan, a holographic image of the stone appearing above her hand, revealing important information about it.

"The structure is polymorphic." Shuri nodded, clearly thinking hard about her next steps.

"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." Bruce nodded, staring at the image in awe.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" exasperation and amusement were clear in Shuri's tone, and Bruce gave her a meek look.

"Because… we didn't think of it?" he answered, but it sounded much more like a question.

"Okay, this might be harder than I thought. You really didn't think much about this, huh?" Don sighed, giving him a sharp look. "Tony's getting his ass kicked the next time I see him." she shook her head.

"I'm sure you did your best, Doctor Banner." Shuri gave him a sly smile, glancing back down at Vision.

"Can you two do it?" Wanda glanced between the women, and Donatella made eye contact with Shuri. She looked so sure, and determined, and Don knew that they could.

"Yes, but there's over two trillion neurons that we're going to have to work through." Donatella sighed down at the hologram, and Shuri winced.

"One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." Shuri said, almost as a warning. Wanda looked pale. "It will take time, brother." Shuri glanced over to T'Challa, who was standing off to the side looking pensive.

"How long?" Steve asked, and Donatella bit her lip.

"Long enough." she sighed, glancing down at vision with a sheepish smile. Okoye's kimoyo beads blaring gave her a start, and she jumped. Donatella looked over as Okoye held up a hologram of the earth, revealing the threat.

"Something has entered the atmosphere." she looked concerned, the most emotion she'd ever seen from the woman. Donatella felt a shiver run down her spine.

"_Cap, we have a situation here._" she heard Sam's voice say over Steve's comms device. She gnawed on her lip, turning to face Shuri as a large boom sounded outside. She jumped again, glancing out the window to see a smashed ship exploding just on top of the dome-shaped shield around Wakanda.

"_Don't start celebrating yet, guys, we've got more incoming outside the dome_!" Rhodey's voice was the next to come over the speaker, and that prompted Steve into action. He and T'Challa gave each other a look as they rushed to watch out the windows at the ships that slammed into the earth at the edge of the dome, and Vision sat up, clutching an injury from earlier as he panted.

"It's too late, we need to destroy the stone." he gasped out, and the yellow stone seemed to gleam from where it was placed in the center of his forehead.

"Vision, get your ass back on the table." Natasha was no nonsense, telling him exactly what to do.

"We will hold them off." T'Challa stepped forwards as Nat rushed from the room, going outside to meet Sam and Bucky.

"Wanda." Steve glanced over to the scarlet witch. "As soon as that stone's out of his head? You blow it to hell."

"I will." she nodded breathlessly, and everyone snapped into action.

"Evacuate the city. Engage all defences." T'Challa ordered, the guards around him rushing around to follow what he said. "And get this man a shield/" he turned back, Steve still standing next to the windows. She smiled slightly, knowing that Steve had still not gotten the shield back from Tony. It was a sore subject between the men, and hadn't been breached since the impeachment of the accords. Steve gave a determined nod, his lips pressed together in a thin line as Shuri pulled out her tools.

"You ready for this?" Shuri gave her a concerned look.

"I was born ready, baby." Donatella shot her a smirk and the pair got to work, carefully pulling and rerouting the neurons from the gem in Vision's head. Wanda stood close by, holding the android's hand to comfort him. She tried not to look outside, tried not to let herself get distracted, but she couldn't help herself. Bucky was down there, and she had to keep an eye on what was going on. There were thousands lined up at the edge of the dome, waiting for anything to happen. She sort of hoped it would end with nothing going on, but of course that would never be the case.

The weird ships that had landed earlier began to hum and move, panels opening up and releasing dog-like creatures against the dome. They were killing themselves trying to get inside, piling up and splitting through the field. Once in a while one would come through, but they would get taken down by a well placed shot or a quick maneuver. Soon, they began to circle towards the back of the dome, right behind the lab. She felt herself stiffen, scared that one would breach and make its way inside. More and more were making their way through on the frontlines, and she quickened her pace, not even close to finished with her portion of the neurons. Sure, they were making progress, but it wasn't enough.

"How are you guys doing?" Wanda asked, fear clear in her voice. Shuri glanced up, breaking her focus for a moment.

"We're picking up speed, but we need to be faster. Let's get going, Donnie." Shuri nodded to her, and she pressed her lips into a firm line, nodding back. They went even faster, but were still careful, making sure that they wouldn't cause any damage to the android. She tried not to listen to the battle outside, the shouting, the screaming of the creatures. A few loud explosions made her jump before she glanced over again. The barrier was being completely circled by the aliens, and she shuddered, delving back into her work and praying for a miracle.

She felt herself gasp as one section of the barrier opened, and Shuri looked up in alarm as well.

"What are they doing?" she muttered to herself, her face scrunching up in confusion.

"They're saving Vision." Wanda swallowed, hard.

"We're getting closer, come on, Shuri." she prompted the girl, and they went back to work, focusing as hard as they could on the task at hand.

"_How much longer, Shuri?"_ T'Challa's voice rang out through the lab, and Shuri glanced over their map.

"We're nearing the end, brother." she replied, and Donatella sighed in relief.

"_You might want to pick up the pace_." T'Challa replied with a grunt, and Don nodded to herself.

"We're gonna make it, Shuri." she sighed in relief, there were only a few sections left to go. She made the mistake of glancing down towards the battle again, and her blood froze in her veins as she saw Bucky go down. "Oh god, _no_!" she all but shouted, abandoning her task as she stepped towards the windows.

"We don't have time to worry, Donatella!" Shuri sounded nearly hysterical as she regained Don's attention.

"You're right, I'm sorry." she gasped, tearing her eyes away from the sight of Bucky thrashing underneath those dog things. He would be okay. He _had_ to be okay, because she didn't know what she would do if he wasn't. Another blast caught her attention, and she jumped, seeing some sort of light bursting into the ground. She glanced over to see some sort of axe flying over the battlegrounds, destroying a handful of the creatures. It was Thor, and… a tree? And… was that a cat? She couldn't tell, it was too far away. The man dealt devastating blows, lightning destroying the ground beneath his feet and wiping out hordes of the creatures. She felt herself relax, he had just bought them the time they needed.

"Last round." Shuri nodded at the panel in front of her, carefully moving everything around in order, but something rumbled in the distance, and huge wheels soon broke up from the dirt and tore up the ground, creating mass destruction. Wanda stepped towards the windows, looking back at the girls.

Suddenly, the scarlet witch was gone, flying off into the distance and making quick work of the machines. Shuri and Donatella stepped up the pace, going double time. Just a few more pathways… until there was a crash from behind them.

"Keep going, I've got him!" she shouted, abandoning the station and leaping at the alien. His staff had been knocked from his hands by one of the Dora Milaje, and she was able to activate her rings. He swung at her, catching her across the face, causing her to see stars. She struck back, punching him in the cheek and he stumbled before coming at her, but she leaped up and pressed her hands against his head, exactly the same as she had with her brother. She knew there was no other way she could stop him, sending pulse after pulse into the alien's skull, surely turning it into mush.

His eyes dimmed, slowly losing their life as his mouth dropped open, and he stumbled backwards, falling with a thud onto the marble flooring. He twitched for a few moments as she stood above him, the hum of her rings in her ears drowned out by the thumping of her pulse.

She'd killed once again. It wasn't Antoni, but that was all she could see. Her brother, her poor, twisted brother laying on the ground in front of her. His purpled face, bloodshot eyes, burned skin. She felt sick.

"Antoni. Antoni, I'm sorry." She whispered, kneeling down next to him. His head lolled over to face her, a sneer coming over his face.

"_You don't deserve to live_." He rasped out, blood staining his teeth.

"I'm _sorry_." Donatella choked out, her hands flitting over him hesitantly. She flashed back to the present, recoiling from the dead alien, flopping back onto her ass as she scrambled backwards.

"Donatella!" Shuri knelt down next to the girl, fingers pressing over her forehead. "What happened?"

"I'm good, I'm good, sorry." she croaked weakly, standing up with shallow breaths. "I just… got lost there for a minute. Is the stone out?" she glanced behind her towards the table, where Vision was sitting, an empty spot in the middle of his forehead where the infinity stone once sat. Donatella's legs almost gave out beneath her in relief. They'd done it.

"We must get Wanda back up here to destroy the stone." Shuri looked down at the battlefield with a frown. Donatella raced over to the comms device, leaning down and speaking into it.

"Wanda, Wanda we need you up here." she gasped out, eyes darting frantically over the battle to see where the scarlet witch was. A red burst of energy flared up, and Wanda was soon back in the lab, rushing forward to embrace Vision.

"Do it. Now, Wanda." Vision pointed at the stone, and she set her gaze on it with determination.

"We're in the endgame now." Donatella breathed.

**I HAD to get an Endgame joke in there. Sorry not sorry, guys. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Black Magic Woman **

Wanda was doing it. Red energy swirled from her hands, dangerous and beautiful all at once. Her face was pained and concentrated, eyes leaking the red light as she focused on her task. She was _doing_ it. They had a chance to stop it. To stop _him_. The mad titan, he was called. Wanted to destroy half of the earth, half of all living things. He could do it, too, if he had all the stones, with a snap of his finger. But Donatella would _not_ let anything come in between her and Bucky anymore. She'd promised herself she would never allow him to leave her again, willing or unwilling. They were meant to be together, meant to live and breathe together. They'd found each other against all odds, and there would be hell to pay if they got wrenched apart again.

"You're doing great, Wanda." Vision soothed her, encouraging her as the stone began to glow from the copious amounts of energy being poured into it. Donatella was almost entranced by it. The stone was powerful, very powerful and just being in its presence as Wanda's magic pummeled through it was making her lightheaded. It might have had something to do with it being the mind stone as well, but she wasn't sure. Magic wasn't really her expertise.

It took a while, but Wanda's magic managed to destroy the stone. It seemed to have taken a lot of out the girl. She took deep breaths, nearly collapsing on the table that Vision had occupied before.

"Does anybody copy? We need medical assistance on the field, ASAP!" Sam's voice crackled over the communications system.

"Sam, I'm on my way, where should I be headed?" Donatella replied into the mic, picking up a medical bag and stepping towards the door.

"It's Bucky. He's just past the treeline, but be quick." her blood turned to ice in her veins. It was Bucky. She turned a panicked gaze on Wanda, and the girl was already on her feet, eyes glowing red with panic. Without a word, Wanda came forward to grip her hand, dragging her towards the front windows and exiting the place she'd seemed to just have entered through. And they soared. It was much like the time Donatella had first met Sam, him lifting her high off the ground. It was exhilarating, the scarlet witch's magic surrounding her and giving her this amazing feeling, like she was going to explode and pass out all at once. She'd never thought too much into Wanda's powers, but there was something incredible about them. The flight was over quickly, and as soon as Don's feet hit the ground reality set in once again. She had to get to Bucky. She saw him lying there, blood surrounding him, and that icy feeling flooded through her body once again. Was this it? Was she too late? She wouldn't accept anything less than fixing him fully. So she sprinted forwards, dropping to her knees beside him and seeing his weak gaze land on hers.

"Hey, hey, it's me, angel." she cooed softly down to him, immediately going to work. There was a mottled slice on his neck, something from one of those alien's claws. He'd been holding a cloth tightly to it, some strip of fabric that she recognized from Falcon's suit. Nothing vital seemed to be hit, and his jugular vein was intact. For now. So she had to make sure he kept calm and still.

"D-Don, you shouldn't be here." his voice was weak, and she quickly shushed him.

"Don't talk, wonderboy, not until I get you fixed up. You're gonna be okay for now, just as long as you don't move a muscle. Can you do that for me?" she smiled sweetly, feeling relief. It was just a few scratches. As long as she kept him from bleeding out, he would be just fine. She went to work cleaning the wound, managing to use a liquid bandage to seal it up before putting a dry wrap over it. She would stitch it once she could get him into a sterile environment, but it would hold for now.

"Thank you." he croaked out, his fingers brushing over her cheek as she helped to sit him up against a tree. He'd lost a lot of blood, but he'd heal up beautifully.

"I was thinking once this is all over, we'd go home and watch a good movie and order Chinese. How does that sound, huh? I wanted to show you _Dirty Dancing_." she smiled at him.

"Doll, I'm not sure I'm up for dancing." he retorted with a smirk, and she let her head fall back in laughter.

"It's a movie, Buck, but I'll keep your idea filed away for later." she smiled down at him, pushing his hair off his face. He was sticky with sweat, and his gun laid next to him, abandoned for the moment.

"A sweet sentiment." she heard from behind her, and she whirled around to see a giant purple… thing approaching. Her eyes immediately shot to the golden gauntlet adorning his hand, five of the six infinity stones glimmering faintly from it. But they'd destroyed the last one, and he'd never be able to complete it. "But your world is about to change much more than you could ever imagine, Donatella."

"How do you know me?" she felt a jolt of fear race through her, and his expressionless face shifted with amusement. He took another step forwards, and Bucky scrambled forwards to grab for his gun, but she quickly pushed him back, stilling his movements. She may have patched him up, but he was nowhere near ready for battle.

"Your reaction… much like that of your mentor, Stark." she gasped audibly, and he let out a sigh, irritation clear on his face. "He's alive. For now." he replied. She felt her shoulders droop slightly before she stood up, facing the mad titan that was threatening the universe. No biggie. Right? She activated her rings, knowing it wouldn't be much, but it was something.

"You're pretty dumb, aren't you?" Donatella replied easily, and he cocked his head to the side, interested by the way that she'd spoken to him. "Destroying half the universe, and for what? Because we don't have the resources?" she frowned.

"You're a woman of science, I'm sure you would understand." his eyes narrowed.

"Do you understand? Because I'm not sure you do, California Raisin. The universe has way more resources than all of our races combined can even produce. And, completing your little gauntlet thingy, wouldn't you just be able to double our resources if you think we don't have enough? Have you even _thought this through_?" she hissed, striding forwards to get into his face.

"You think it's so easy, don't you." he stepped forwards, glaring down into her face. "Having this destiny." he sneered, and she heard shifting behind her, and she shot a warning glance behind her towards him, making sure he wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Well, you seemed to piss off a lot of powerful people. Makes you think, doesn't it?" She retorted. He cracked a smile.

"You know, in another life we could be friends." He said, affection in his tone.

"A life where you don't try and destroy half the universe, maybe." She snorted, standing her ground as he approached. "You're a bully. And if there's one thing being friends with a whole bunch of superheroes has taught me, it's to not like bullies."

"Calling me names isn't going to change your fate. If I have to cut you down for the greater good of this universe, I won't hesitate." The mad titan scowled, his amusement seeming to fade. He got closer and closer, Donatella not moving an inch, her hands held up defensively in front of her, waiting for the moment that she would have to strike. She really wasn't looking forward to it.

"You can't finish your destiny or whatever. We destroyed the mind stone. It's gone." She shook her head in a warning, hoping to catch him off guard.

"I'm not worried about that." He smiled, and ice jolted through her veins. "With all of the power I contain in this moment, I should easily be able to restore the mind stone and grasp its power." The stones glittered against his knuckles, and she bit her lip.

"Then I guess I'll just have to stop you then." She retorted, taking a step forwards, raring to go.

"You? A mere human, taking me on alone with a pair of electromagnetic rings." He almost laughed, his amusement seeming to return. "You'll die here, with your precious lover watching. Never to see each other again."

"See, that's the thing." She swallowed hard. "That back there, he's pretty much already my husband. And I'm not alone." She smiled, seeing so many people approaching from behind him, assembling, unified. This was it. This had to be the final battle. Wanda glowed, nearly vibrating with rage and power. Steve strode forwards, strength emanating from him like he was some sort of god. Natasha was there too, shooting her a wink before getting her game face on, facing the mad titan with the rest. T'Challa made an appearance, Okoye too. So many people standing on the same side… the Civil War was a distant memory. _This_ was the Avengers. And this was the boss battle. This was what so much had led up to. "So what do you say, grape man, we can do this the easy way or the hard way." She gave him a sly smirk.

"Fools." He snarled. "All of you. There's no stopping this."

"Well, nobody can say that we didn't try." Natasha shrugged, glancing at Steve. He gave her a nod, and they moved into action. She sprang backwards, knowing that this wasn't her fight. No, she had too much blood on her hands already. So she knelt beside Bucky again, checking his wound to make sure he hadn't gotten too worked up and messed it up.

"You're an idiot." He croaked at her, head lolling backwards against the tree as the battle got further from his resting place.

"I know. But I'm your idiot, doesn't that count for something?" She smiled cheekily at him, stroking the stubble on his cheek and letting her hand rest there for a moment.

"It counts for everything, sweetheart." He smiled, and her heart skipped a beat. He was so achingly beautiful, even covered in his own blood, bruised and battered and left haunted. She would fix him. She would pour every last bit of her soul in this man even if there was just a chance to fix a small piece of him. Because he was all she wanted, all she needed. She glanced back out at the team fighting the mad titan, and shuddered. He was powerful, so much so that he could swat someone to the side like they were nothing. They all had to work together, in unison giving it their all to even get close to him. She felt like they wouldn't win. She was actually _scared_ that they wouldn't. Glancing down at Bucky, it seemed he shared the sentiment.

"Bucky, I just need to let you know that-" he interrupted her before she could finish.

"Don't. Don't say it. If you say it, it sounds like you're giving up. And you can't give up, you're supposed to be the positive one here." He gave her a watery smile, and she chuckled softly, leaning down to press her forehead against his.

"We're in this together." She whispered, glancing back. Steve was down, and he didn't look like he was getting up. Nat, too. Wanda was struggling, Okoye was limping… her heart sank.

"Always together. Don't ever forget it." He whispered, reaching out to squeeze her hand as they watched. As they waited for their inevitable defeat. Wanda went down. Okoye went down. T'Challa was blasted back through the trees, and the purple monster stood victorious over them all. "Don't. Please don't go over there. It's not worth it to lose you." He begged her as she made to get up and distract him, if only for a moment. Hoping that someone would come. Someone that could stop him.

"I'm not going anywhere." She soothed him, reaching out to stroke his blood soaked hair, matted down and half dried by now. His hand squeezed hers again, and she saw the golden gauntlet raise up. If they were going to die, they would die together. Wrapped up in each other's arms. This was how it was meant to be. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable. She felt Bucky's lips ghost against her forehead, felt salty tears dripping down her face. She heard thunder rumbling, and then a hollow, wet sounding _thunk_ that made her shudder. And then it was quiet, save for her pulse roaring, the blood rushing so loudly through her ears she couldn't tell what was happening anymore. She opened her eyes, vision blurry from her tears, and laid her gaze upon the rolling purple head on the dirt. She saw the god of thunder standing, triumphant over the body, the nearly-complete gauntlet resting uselessly on the titan's corpse.

"Christ." Bucky gasped, his head falling against hers in relief. They'd done it. It was finished. Thanos was dead, it was _done_ before she could barely even grasp what was supposed to happen.

"We won." She sighed in relief, turning to him with an uncontrollable smile. "We fucking _won_." She grabbed his face, trying to be gentle and cautious of his injuries, and he leaned up to meet her. Their lips met for the briefest moment before the sound of flapping wings and jeering interrupted, but she just reached one arm up to flip Wilson off as he cackled. They ignored everyone else, just for a moment to have their own peace, their own celebration. Because it was finished. Bad guy was defeated, and they could all go home now.

"You guys should come up for air soon, we may be alive but we sure as hell ain't finished." Steve's familiar voice called out to them, and Donatella pulled backwards to shoot him a look.

"Hey, we all almost died today, I think a few minutes of celebration aren't uncalled for." Don stood, recruiting Sam to help her get Bucky transported back to the lab. "But I suppose you're right." She waved at Sam as he carried a pouting Bucky off. "Any injuries you need taken care of, Captain?" She turned to smile at him, but her grin faltered at the despair in his eyes. "Steve?"

"Everybody here got to keep their loved ones. Everybody in the world right now didn't even realize that they could have lost everything. And I'm still stuck here, waiting for something that's never gonna happen." Steve shook his head, and Donatella's heart seized as she realized he was talking about Peggy. "I feel like something else was supposed to happen. I feel like… with the stones, I could-"

"Steve." Donatella stopped him, her voice husky with emotion. "What are you saying?"

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky. But, Bucky doesn't need me anymore. I think… I think it's time that I take my leave. Go off and do good in the world. Try and find my peace." He gulped, something like shame flitting over his expression.

"You think he doesn't need you anymore? Steve, that's not… you're an idiot." He blinked those wide blue eyes at her, and she tried not to laugh. "Are you kidding me? You think that just because Bucky has me he doesn't need anybody else? No, if you seriously think that then you don't know him at all. Nobody can survive with only one person. Jesus, I feel like if we had never met each other, you two would probably be banging honestly." Donatella shrugged, and Steve's face went bright red.

"I-I'm not…"

"I know you aren't, Steve, it was a joke. But you're telling me you're gonna abandon your best friend because he's getting married? I'm sorry, but I didn't think you're a quitter." She shook her head, and his lips parted for a moment before he strode forwards, wrapping her up in a hug.

"I think… I want to try therapy. You said it helped you, and I want to… I think I should do it." He murmured, stepping back and not meeting her eyes.

"You're always welcome to our place. Always, okay? You can call me if you want to talk about her. I know nothing will be able to replace what you lost, but you need to start looking for happiness in other places. I know it's hard. I know it sucks. But you just helped to defeat a crazy purple space grape. I think that counts for some celebration, right? Now, show me America's smile." She grinned, poking him in the chest until he gave a weak chuckle.

"Somehow, you always know the right things to say. I'm going to do better, Don. For myself." He nodded.

"I'm counting on you." She patted his shoulder before turning back towards the lab. "And if you leave, who's gonna plan Buck's bachelor party? Certainly not Sam." She joked, causing a real laugh to leave him this time.

"You know, those two are actually pretty good friends." Steve revealed, and she shot him an unimpressed look.

"They kind of are. Isn't that crazy?" she smiled at him.

"They're just perfect for each other." Steve shrugged, and she sighed as they approached the building.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." she smiled as she saw Wanda limp into the building, being supported by Vision. "I'm glad they're okay." she sighed in relief.

"Me too. They didn't deserve to have to go through this. None of them did, really." he shook his head as they followed the pair through the halls back up to the lab.

"Neither did you, Steve. You've done good, you know. More than anyone else, I think." she reassured him.

"I'm glad at least someone thinks so." he sighed.

"Thank god our doctor has finally returned." Shuri teased as Donatella and Steve entered the lab. Bucky was propped up on a makeshift cot in the corner, and many other wounded were sitting there waiting. Some looked good as new, and others looked like they were in terrible pain. She pushed Steve in Bucky's direction before she got to work, glancing over at the pair every so often to check on them. They were deep in conversation, both seeming upset for a moment, but the next time she looked they seemed better. Steve must have been telling him about his feelings that he'd revealed to her.

She felt a bit guilty, keeping him there. But the thought of him going off on his own, well, that hurt her more than she realized. She'd come to think of the man as a brother. She frowned as she thought of that. She'd had a real brother, but there wasn't a connection between them, not like Steve. Not even like Peter. Don had claimed that Bucky would be the one to miss Steve, but who was she kidding? She'd probably be a wreck if he left, too. He was part of her family. She'd allowed herself to get so attached to these people, what would she do if anything ever happened to them? She wasn't sure, honestly. Any loss of any one of them would shake her to her core. It wouldn't feel _right_.

She was scared. She'd never depended so much on other people. She'd never had such a large family. Donatella didn't know what to do about this. When it was just her and Bucky, it was easier. But it was also _lonelier_. It wasn't healthy to depend on one person for everything. She had so many people to rely on, it made things easier. But it was also so much harder, because now there was so much more to care about. There was a good balance with everyone else, she gained as much as she got. But she worried so much about them, too. So, so much, especially in their line of work. Hell, sometimes she had panic attacks seeing news about Peter getting into trouble with huge gangs in New York, and he was only focused on one city. The rest of them were focused on the _world_. They'd saved the world, so many times. But how many times could they do it without having any losses? She felt herself shudder at the thought, and she glanced back over to Bucky. What would happen if she lost _him_? She would… she couldn't think of that right now. She had to focus. There were people who were injured, people who actually needed her help. And she would do her job.

It was hours later when she finally got to speak with Bucky again. Wakandan medicine was incredible, the skin already grafted closed and mostly healed.

"Oh, it looks great angel." she sighed in relief as she stroked her finger over the pink skin. "You'll be just fine." he gave her a small smile, before frowning down at her.

"Are you an idiot?" he seethed, pulling her along towards the room they'd be staying in.

"W-what?" she stammered as his hand tightened on her wrist, practically yanking her into their bedroom.

"You've got pretty non-lethal weapons and you face off the mad-titan in the middle of a battlefield? _Are you an idiot_!" he swore, raking a hand through his hair as he paced the floor. "Do you know how stupid that was? I couldn't even get up to help you, hell I was calling for help over comms and it was almost too late. Thought you'd just have a fun chat with him, huh?"

"He came up to us, what was I supposed to do? Lay down and wait for him to kill us?" she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. He sighed, irritation clear in his tone, but when he turned to face her there was despair there.

"I thought we'd die there. I thought there was no way we'd survive. It still doesn't feel over, I swear it's like something's hanging over my head right now. I thought you were gonna get killed, and I couldn't do anything to stop it." his voice broke as he continued to speak, and she felt the corners of her lips turn into a frown.

"Hey. I can handle myself, alright? It happened, in the lab. Someone else's blood is on my hands." he raked a hand over his face, swearing under his breath.

"_Jesus_. You okay?" he stepped forwards, immediately dropping all his anger and wrapping her up in a hug. She felt herself melt into him, letting her stress and anger seep out.

"No." her voice shook, and she buried her face further into his chest. "For a second, I saw him. His fucking face…" she sighed, and he squeezed her tighter.

"He can't hurt you, sweetheart." he cooed gently to her. "Not while I'm around."

"I know. I know he can't. But I still did it." she replied, stepping back from his embrace to look up at him. He gave her an understanding look, and she sighed, looking back down at the floor.

"Everything we did… everything that happened, happened so we could get here." he said, and she gave him a small smile.

"Here is a good place to be." she replied softly.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you." he sighed, running his hand through his hair again. "I was just worried."

"I get it." she smiled, reaching forwards to grab his metal hand. "Believe me, I yell at you enough to know what it's like to regret it."

"Yeah, you do yell a lot." he teased, and she gave a grin back, stepping forwards to embrace him again. His arms wrapped softly around her, and she relaxed, feeling the tension from the past two days slipping from her body. It was cathartic. He didn't even have to do anything to make her feel good, he just had to exist.

"I just don't want to lose you." she whispered to him, and he placed his chin on the top of her head, her face tucked into his chest.

"You'll never lose me, sweetheart." he replied.

"I'm gonna hold you to that." she mumbled into his shirt, and she felt him chuckle, the vibration of it deep in his chest causing her to relax even further.

"I wouldn't expect any less." she could practically hear the smirk in his voice, and she wanted to roll her eyes. Cocky bastard.

"Buck, I'm tired." she said, and he chuckled again, pulling back from her to glance outside.

"You've been on your feet all day. It's a miracle you're still awake, I thought I'd have to carry you back up here from the lab." she pursed her lips at him, giving him an annoyed look and he just grinned back, tugging her hand towards the bed and gently pushing her to sit down.

"Take off my shoes?" she asked weakly, sticking her feet up in front of him and he sighed, pulling the entirely impractical wedges off her sore feet. She sighed in relief, flopping onto her back, and he stifled another laugh.

"You gonna sleep in that?" he glanced over her skirt and blouse combo, dirt stains and blood spattered on it. She groaned, giving him an annoyed look.

"Get it off me." she mumbled, throwing her arm over her eyes dramatically. He gave another soft chuckle, and she felt his warm hands settle on her hips, tilting her to the side to access the zipper that began just above the small of her back. She held her breath, relishing in the feeling of his slow, careful movements, one warm palm pressed against the top of her thigh, pleasantly cool fingers pulling the zipper. Once he'd gotten it unzipped all the way, he let her hips settle back onto the bed before his hands trailed up to her sides, untucking her blouse from the front of it. Carefully, and achingly gentle, his fingers pushed the buttons through the holes to open her shirt up. She held back a shiver as his metal fingers brushed over her stomach, making their way up towards her chest. His touch didn't linger, but she felt a slow burn starting low in her stomach, an ache beginning between her thighs as she clenched them together. His movements paused, he definitely noticed her reaction, and she bit the inside of her cheek, still covering her eyes.

"You okay?" she could practically hear the smile in his voice, and not trusting herself to speak, she merely nodded back. His hands were back to their task a moment later, fingers skimming from the tops of her thighs almost to her knees, and his hands settled just below the hem, squeezing her legs and letting the tips of his thumbs edge up the bottom of her skirt. She clenched her thighs again, and she heard his breathless laugh as he edged his hands up a bit higher, settling them under her skirt, squeezing once more. Too soon he slid his hands back down, but he tugged the hem with one hand, helping her lift her hips with the other to get the item off her body, leaving her lower half almost bare. "You're gonna have to sit up for this next part." his voice was low and husky, and she felt a shiver run through her body before he grabbed onto her waist, gripping tightly to lift her into a seated position. His hands never lost contact with her skin as he trailed those delicious fingers up and over her breasts, made their way over her shoulders and down her arms, trailing along behind the fabric of her shirt as he pushed it off.

"Bucky." she said weakly, laying her head on his shoulder, her eyes still closed, relishing in his touch.

"Yes?" he murmured, his lips pressing a kiss onto the crown of her head.

"I need to feel you tonight." she whispered to him, and his hands stilled once more before settling back onto her hips.

"Are you alright?" his voice dripped with concern, and she trailed her fingers up one of his solid, muscular thighs, making her way upwards until she reached the bottom of his dirty combat vest. She didn't want to say anything, because she honestly wasn't sure if she was alright, but feeling him, being with him made everything feel better. She wanted to pretend like they were the only two people in the entire world. She could have lost everything today. Donatella released a shaky breath, craning her neck up to press her lips against his. He tasted smoky, sultry, and comfortable. Familiar, yet thrilling. He parted her lips with his tongue, sending a fresh sweep of that spicy taste through her senses, and she heard a small noise escape the back of her throat. They weren't always slow like this, there were times they couldn't keep their hands off each other, where they couldn't get enough of each other's touches. But this, this was good. New, yet familiar, soft and sweet. There was a sort of reverence to their touches, knowing times like these between them were far and few. Times where shaking fingers traced tiny patterns, goosebumps rose instead of sweat, trembling sighs and quiet moans. They only existed as a pair like this, a slow waltz of whispers and soft kisses. It felt sacred, it felt right. Everything between them just felt so damn _right_.

The words he said earlier resonated with her. _Everything that happened, happened so we could get here_. Here in this moment, here in this life, here in this relationship. He was her person, and she was his. They were a team, a unit, existing separate and together at the same time.

She felt him, that night, but not just physically. She felt his effects on her mind, on her soul. He'd practically rewired her into a new person, someone fresher, better, stronger. He made her feel so good. All she wanted was to be here, in this moment forever. His shaking hands gliding over her skin, those piercing blue eyes gazing down at her, all of these feelings and emotions mingling in some fluid experience. It was like she'd been underwater her whole life and she only felt alive with him. She could finally see, could finally breathe.

It was perfect.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: no tears left to cry **

"Peter Parker you get the hell off that ship _right now_!" Donatella was fuming as the unfamiliar spaceship landed on the tarmac of the compound. Pepper stood beside her, arms crossed as Don held the communications device up to her mouth, preparing to yell at the kid again. She didn't have to, however, as the _Benetar_'s hatch opened, Peter stepping off sheepishly, strangers lined up behind him.

"Dude, is that your mom?" a large man asked, and Peter gave a sharp shake of his head, shooting an embarrassed smile at Don.

"H-hey, Donnie, how's everything?" he shuffled forwards, still in his suit. She pursed her lips, ignoring Pepper as the woman stormed towards where Tony was trying to skulk off.

"You hopped onto a foreign spacecraft and you've been missing for the past ten days. How do you _think_ everything is?" she seethed, striding forwards, and he flinched before she yanked him into a hug, and he relaxed as he wrapped his arms around her. "I should have Bucky kick your ass for worrying me so much." she stepped backwards with narrowed eyes.

"Hey guys!" she flinched when she heard the… raccoon approach behind her. She was still getting used to that one. The tree as well. The pair made more sense when she saw the rest of the crew from the _Benetar_, a woman with antennae, a man with strange markings on his skin, and a woman that was entirely green. They were all stunning, but she still wasn't quite used to the idea that people from the far ends of the galaxy were standing in front of her. She didn't really glance twice at the regular dude, she'd seen enough human males to last her a lifetime.

"Mr. Barnes would never kick my a-butt." he corrected his language when he saw Bucky's shadow looming over his shoulder. "H-hey Bucky." he smiled sheepishly.

"Ah, there's my favorite arm! Is it for sale yet?" the raccoon walked up to the little group, and she couldn't help but stare down at it.

"My wife made it for me, I wouldn't sell it for anything." Bucky smirked down at Rocket. How the hell was he cool with talking to it-him?

"Wife?" Don frowned at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't remember hearing any vows."

"So you're the arms dealer?" the raccoon laughed at his own joke, and she glanced down at him, his interested gaze gleaming at her. "How much do I gotta pay you for one of those things?"

"You've got all your limbs. Call me if you lose one." she rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Now, Peter…" she frowned when she realized the kid was no longer next to her. "Peter!" she shouted, and the other man from the _Benetar_ flinched, looking over to her.

"Jesus, _what_?" he asked, looking alarmed.

"No, not you, I… where'd the kid go?" she asked, feeling frustrated.

"Tony took him inside a minute ago. Pepper told him you brought the kid a change of clothes." Bucky replied, and she sighed, rubbing her temples.

"We need to figure out what the hell we're supposed to tell May." she glanced back to him, and he frowned.

"I think Stark should handle that. We're in charge of acclimating the new guys." Bucky reminded her, and she looked back towards the newbies.

"Ah… you're right, you're always right." she let out a puff of air. "Okay, everybody, my name is Donatella, I'm here to help you all out and getting you settled for the time being."

"Well, we aren't staying long. We've got other planets to keep an eye on." the other Peter replied, and she nodded in understanding.

"Still, I'd rather not leave you high and dry. This is Bucky, he can also help you out. Anybody have any medical emergencies?" the green woman gave a glare towards Peter, and he meekly raised his hand, one of his fingers hanging completely wrong.

"Broke it in a fight." he explained. The green woman rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"He broke it trying to get his zune from behind the seat when he dropped it. Got his hand stuck and broke his finger." the woman explained, stepping forward to reach her hand out. "I'm Gamora." she didn't smile, but she had a comfortable expression. Donatella shook her hand and then stepped towards Peter.

"Well, we'll have to get you something better than a Zune." she grabbed his hand, examining the offending finger.

"Better than a Zune? I don't think that possib-_agh_!" he screeched when she popped the finger back into it's socket.

"It was just dislocated. There could be a hairline fracture, but it's so swollen that I'd need to take an x-ray to determine it. Bucky can bring you to the lab. And, Peter, there are _so _many things that are better than a zune." she handed her first patient off, and Bucky gave her a kiss on the cheek as he walked off, the other Peter trailing behind him, looking a bit lost. She turned back around, but her knees almost buckled as she saw someone new walking off the ship. "Oh, holy _shit_." she bit her lip as she saw the robot. Sure she was attractive, but somehow seamlessly android and living at the same time.

"I know right?" Rocket murmured from beside her. "She's awesome."

"Gamora." the robot's voice was husky with a metallic twinge to it, similar to how Arnold sounded. He hadn't been brought to Wakanda, and she'd only seen him a handful of times since she'd returned, but he was doing much better with her new treatments and replacement parts for the garish pieces that had adorned him previously. She'd have to ask this new android if she could give her any advice for Arnold. "Where did Quill go? I need to speak with him about Knowhere." the android didn't look at anyone except for Gamora, pretending like the rest of the group didn't exist.

"He's inside, Nebula, we'll go in in a minute." Gamora replied, turning back to Donatella. Pitch black eyes focused on her, and Donatella swallowed at the attention from Nebula.

"Oh, I am Mantis. And this is Drax." the one with antennae announced, coming forward to shake her hand the same as Gamora had done, but her head cocked to the side as she looked straight into her eyes. It was a little freaky, how intensely she looked at her. "And you are happy, but also very sad."

"W-what?" Donatella yanked her hand back, gnawing at her lip. Mantis smiled.

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I can sense your emotions when I touch you, and when we shook hands I couldn't help but feel your emptiness."

"What am I sad about?" she asked, alarmed. Mantis merely shrugged.

"I can't tell from a touch alone. Only you would know." she replied.

"Come on, Mantis, stop reading people's minds. I'm hungry. Do you have zorg nuts?" Drax asked, and Donatella honestly had no idea what to say.

"...I'll ask." she ran her hand through her hair, turning away to lead them inside the building. "I'll show you guys the living quarters."

"Do you live here?" Gamora asked, and Donatella shook her head.

"No, I live in the city. New York, you ever heard of it?" she glanced back at the group, and they all gave her blank stares. "Okay, never mind then."

"What's wrong with living here?" Nebula asked, her voice nearly unsettling as she fell into step just behind her, keeping Don close in her sights.

"I like to keep my work life and my personal life separate." she tried to explain, but got a handful of blank stares again.

"Aren't you one of these… _Avengers_?" Mantis asked in a hushed voice as if it were some big secret.

"Oh, god no, I'm just a doctor." she felt a bubble of laughter escape her at that.

"A doctor?" Nebula asked, cocking her head to the side. "I didn't realize your group of heroes had one on retainer."

"Well, I'm not working here because of my medical skills. I'm also a researcher, I work with bioengineering." Donatella explained as they all got into the elevator.

"I am Groot." the tree said, and Rocket shrugged.

"He asked what that means." Gamora translated.

"Oh, well it means I research ways to use technology to, uh, help with medical problems. Things like cancer detecting nanobots and mechanical heart sleeves." Don explained, though they didn't look any less confused. She decided to leave it at that. Her job wasn't that important, after all. They stepped out of the elevator and she showed them their rooms, then introduced them to FRIDAY, who would be able to help them navigate the building if they needed to get anywhere else. Then it was time for her to get to work. She stepped back into the elevator, hitting the button to bring her to the floor that had the labs on it. She tapped her foot impatiently, already waiting for the day to be over. Of course she had a lot of things to get done, but she needed to meet with Pepper sometime during that day. While Tony had been taking his sweet time getting home from space, Donatella had picked up the slack planning the Pepperony wedding. It was quite fun, actually, and had been giving her a ton of ideas for hers and Bucky's. They were having a much smaller ceremony than the extravagant party that Pepper and Tony wanted, but there were still things that she had to decide on for their rapidly approaching wedding date. She made a mental note to go over her binder with Bucky and get his opinion, and especially with finding the caterer. Only four and a half months to go.

"About time." Peter Quill moaned as she entered the sliding glass doors of the lab, and she rolled her eyes, glancing at Bucky to see his face ripe with irritation.

"Yes, well, we're a bit understaffed here for now. A lot of rebuilding in Wakanda has taken up most of our resources." Don defended herself as she stalked over to the gingery male. He pursed his lips, looking like a kid. She rolled over a cart with a small x-ray screen on it, yanking his hand over to the side before laying a lead apron on him and stepping back behind the counter, clicking the button to take the x-ray.

"What the hell was that? What is this thing? Is this dangerous?" he balked, but kept still when she approached once more, pushing the cart with the machine on it off to the side and taking the lead apron off of him.

"It's just an x-ray, I'll print it off in a minute and I'll show you." she tried to give him a reassuring smile, and he cradled his swollen hand to his chest with a suspicious look. "Aren't you from earth? They had x-rays when you were a kid." she sighed.

"Well, excuse me for not remembering some things about my earth experience." he replied with hostility, and Bucky shot her a look. She hadn't seen him like that in a while, it reminded her of when they first were living together and he was completely done with her. It was nice to know he still got annoyed so easily. She shot him a grin before heading to the attachment lab, retrieving the print and bringing it back into her medical lab. She clipped it up to the board, turning the light on to examine the picture.

"This is the finger you dislocated, but it doesn't look like you have any other damage. It might take awhile before it's back to full strength, so be careful with it. I can print off a brace for you, but I won't waste the resources if you're not going to wear it." she glanced over to him, where he already seemed bored. He'd been poking at something that he definitely shouldn't be, and he jumped back to attention, Bucky stifling a laugh from the corner of the room, where he'd perched himself on a stool he usually gravitated towards.

"I-I would wear it." he defended himself, looking back down at the notes on the countertop behind him. "But only if you tell me what this is?" he held up the papers, and she squinted at it before pursing her lips.

"Those are some notes for my biomolecular regenerative technology, it's an alternative to chemotherapy. You know what chemotherapy is, right?" she asked hesitantly as he frowned.

"My mom died of brain cancer." she froze at his words, her stomach sinking.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize…" she trailed off, one of her hands immediately coming up to rest on his shoulder. He flinched slightly at the contact, but never looked away from the papers.

"My dad put the tumor in her head. Long story." he waved off her look of confusion. "Inoperable, only could give her a ton of chemo and hope it would work. It didn't." she bit her lip as he looked up at her, something dark lurking in his eyes.

"Sometimes things that should work don't." she supplied, and he gave a slight nod.

"Does this work?" he asked, holding the papers up again. She hesitated before nodding her head. His eyes squeezed shut, a shuddering breath leaving him as he shook his head.

"Why _now_? Why didn't this happen earlier?" he demanded, shaking the notes in her face. Bucky was suddenly between them, pushing Peter Q. back and keeping distance between him and Don.

"Buck, Bucky it's fine." she nudged him off to the side before looking back up at Quill. "Peter, I'm not going to lie. It wasn't easy to make that, I'm not trying to say only I could have done it, but it was hard. But I did it. Not a lot of people could see where things needed to go, what had to be done. I wish that it could have been used way before I was even born, I wish someone could have figured it out before me. But all I can say is that it's finally here, and I hope that people won't have to lose anybody anymore." tears were shining in his eyes, and he shut them again before giving a sharp nod.

"I-I think I'm gonna go. Thanks, for fixing my finger." he whisked from the lab, and Donatella let out a shaking breath before sitting in a chair rubbing her hand over her face. Bucky crouched in front of her, placing his hands on her leg to get her attention.

"You ok?" he asked quietly, and she took another breath before giving him a small smile.

"I'm fine. It just sucks. People got mad, real mad when I came out with it. They thought it was an easy fix, a perfect cure, and so many people had already lost loved ones to it… and they were mad at me for not coming out with it sooner, mad at the whole scientific community for not figuring it out sooner." she explained, choking on her tears. His eyes looked sad, those baby blues absolutely killing her in that moment. "How am I supposed to make all those deaths right, Buck? It's like their blood is on my hands."

"Hey. It isn't your fault that this couldn't be done until now. You've got a brilliant mind, and they have no right to be upset with you about making something great." he said sternly, and it honestly made her feel better. "They're only upset because it took so long. But you made things better for them, okay? You're more of a hero than all of the Avengers combined." he smirked, and she gave a soft laugh.

"I don't know about that, but it's nice that at least you appreciate me." she shot him a lopsided smile, carding her hands through his hair as he grinned up at her.

"I'm glad we're finally back to normal." he sighed, leaning into her touch as she scratched her fingernails gently over his scalp, bracing his elbows on either side of her legs, practically laying down in her lap. She stifled a giggle at his actions, he was like a puppy.

"So, the Stark wedding is in three weeks." she mentioned, and he tilted his head up, giving her a curious look.

"I know." he said, eyes twinkling as he waited for her to continue. She bit her lip with a smile.

"I know you know, I'm just kind of excited. It feels like my dad is getting married." she laughed, and a corner of his mouth twitched up.

"Tony isn't that old." he leaned his head into her hand as she trailed it down over his cheek.

"Yeah, you're, what, a hundred and one now?" she teased him. "Kind of crazy to think about." he rolled his eyes.

"You're only twenty six. I'm a cradle robber." he smirked back at her. She let out a soft laugh, going back to running her hands through his hair. She did like the short, soft locks, they made him look cleaner and more handsome. Not that she disliked his long hair, but she couldn't play with it like she could now, it would get tangled too easily.

"Hey, I'm barely twenty six, my birthday was only a few months ago."

"Still counts." he sighed, laying his head down in her lap, groaning. "Is today over yet?" he mumbled, his warm breath puffing against her thigh.

"We're not even to lunch yet, angel." she laughed, and he let out another loud groan.

"Woah, what am I walking into?" Donatella whipped her head towards the door as Tony entered, dressed impeccably and carrying a bag of some mystery snack. His new obsession was "labelless food" that made it impossible to tell what he was eating until he pulled it out.

"A private moment." Bucky slowly stood, taking his time and cracking his back before turning to face Stark.

"Well, you lovebirds are in my compound, so I don't appreciate the dissent in the ranks." Tony replied breezily, coming to a stop right in front of Don's chair.

"Did Pepper give your ass a whooping?" Don teased, and Tony pursed his lips.

"You know, I really hate how you two gang up against me." he rolled his eyes, just barely visible through tinted glasses. "I needed to speak with you about Peter."

"Well, I already yelled at him earlier, do you want me to apologize? Because I'm mad at you, too, for letting him get on that ship." she crossed her arms and legs, giving him a serious look.

"Okay, not about that Peter, I mean Quill. He's blasting trees outside and won't speak to anyone, last I heard he was in here with you. What crawled up his ass?" she frowned, realizing that their conversation had upset him more than she'd thought.

"His mom died from a brain tumor. He found out about the cure." Tony's lips parted for a moment, as if he was about to speak, but nothing came out. It was the first she'd seen him at a loss for words, and he cleared his throat, closing his mouth again.

"I see." Tony glanced at Bucky, probably thinking about his own parents' deaths. Bucky avoided his look, staring at the floor. "I'll talk to him."

"You should tell Gamora, actually. I'm sure she'll be able to get through to him better than we could." Donatella replied, and Tony hesitated before nodding.

"Also, just wanted to be clear on something, I did not _let_ Peter go onto that ship. He followed me up and overrided Karen's protocols all on his own." he sniffed, spinning on his heel and digging into the foil packet, pulling out a yogurt covered fruit, not hesitating to pop it into his mouth.

"I think he needs an authority figure that actually follows the rules." Don glanced at Bucky with a grin, and he smirked back.

"The kid is from Queens. He'll never listen to anybody." Bucky shook his head as Tony made his way to the exit.

"Oh, and will one of you _please_ get that raccoon out of the weapons vault? I don't need him messing up my suits." Tony called out before leaving the lab, and Donatella stifled a laugh.

"Not it." she grinned at Bucky, and he turned to her with an irritated huff, a pouty look on his face.

"Can't believe I'm in charge of babysitting a trigger-happy raccoon." he groaned, stalking towards the door in a way that she found _very_ attractive. He had a strong walk, almost like a strut, and she couldn't help but watch him leave, craning her neck to see him disappear through the doors, sighing when he was out of her eyesight. She really couldn't wait to marry that gorgeous man.

After a long, long day of sitting by herself in the lab, it was finally a decent time to leave. She tried not to sprint out of the lab, shrugging off her Stark-issued lab coat and punching the code into the panel on the outside of the door, locking the room to keep her research from any disturbances. She'd been working on liver regeneration with a similar base as her previous chemo alternative nanobots. She felt bad for leaving the notes out where Quill could see them, but things seemed to be fine for the time being. She hoped, at least. She felt guild gnawing away at her stomach, shame for herself and the scientific community at not being able to figure it out sooner. There had been a cure, hiding deep in the recesses of technology and programming, and nobody had found it until 2018. That was horrible. Billions suffered. She made a decision right then and there to work her ass off until she could find a way to treat everything. Because what else could she do?

She sighed in relief once she made it to the main level, headed towards the entrance to the parking garage where she usually met Bucky. Don tried not to groan in irritation when he wasn't there, but waited a few minutes, glancing through her emails on her phone and trying not to tap her foot impatiently. Ten minutes passed and there was still no sign of him, and she decided to seek him out at that point. She was hungry and cranky and her feet hurt from the pumps she'd decided on that morning. Where the _hell_ was he? She stomped through the compound, trying not to snarl audibly and disturb anyone still out and about.

"FRIDAY, can you tell me where Bucky is?" she asked after poking her head in the few areas he frequented, finding no sign of her beau.

"Sergeant Barnes is with Rocket in the hangar." the hangar? What the hell? She strode back to the main floor of the compound, not bothering to wait for the elevator, opting for the stairs and regretting it nearly immediately, wincing from her sore feet. She kicked off her shoes, letting them dangle from her fingertips with an exhausted yawn. It was nearly forty minutes since she'd wanted to leave, and she was going to kick Bucky's ass. All she wanted was to curl up on the couch with pizza and maybe a nice cold beer. Now that was a perfect evening. Maybe even fool around with Bucky afterwards. He had expressed interest in balcony sex, and she was nothing if not open to that sort of exhibitionism.

It didn't take her long to get to the hangar, maybe just over five minutes, but she was practically limping at that point, her bare feet on the cold hard concrete not doing her blisters any favors. She just wanted to get home for crying out loud, was that too much to ask?

Her footsteps were nearly silent on the cold floors, and she stepped quietly through the open hangar doors, pausing at the sight. Arnold, Rocket, Bucky, and Nebula all sat in a small circle, unreadable expressions on their faces. She contemplated interrupting, but stood near the doorway, watching just to see what was happening. There were murmurs, soft smiles, frowns, and many other emotions occurring right in front of her. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she didn't think she should bother them.

Quietly, she studied the small group. A few misfits, torn apart and put back together in a jumbled mess. They fit together, meshed well. She felt like they had a lot to learn from each other, and could grow as people together. Donatella smiled softly. She was happy that Bucky had people that could understand what he'd gone through. She could give as much sympathy as she could, but she knew it could never be enough. She'd never be able to fully understand. But now… well, he had more people to rely on. More people to help him lighten the burden. He'd never be free from his past, but there was always more steps to take forward.

She had been standing there for a few minutes before Bucky turned his head slightly, somehow sensing her presence. His eyes glanced over to her before a small smile lit up his face, and she felt her heart ache at his change in expression when he noticed her. He stood up from the crate he'd been sitting on, saying one last thing to the small circle of people before they all gave him goodbyes as he walked over to the entrance where Donatella still stood. She felt the corners of her lips tug upwards as he came closer, and the warm look in his eyes made her feel fuzzy inside.

"Sorry, were you waiting long?" he asked, concern clear on his face as he peered down at her watch. "Oh, damn, it's that late already? I'm sorry, I completely lost track of time."

"Its okay, Buck. You've had to wait on me a billion times. I can handle just this once." she slid her arm through his, tugging him out of the hangar. He let her lead him to the parking garage, her bare feet making just the slightest noise.

"You tired?" he asked as she yawned, and he plucked her shoes from her fingers, leaving her other hand free to dig through her purse for her keys.

"Just a little. I want to go home, order a pizza, and lay on the couch and watch movies. That okay with you?" she peered up at him, seeing a small smirk playing on the corners of his lips. They looked full and inviting, but she knew better than to try and make out with him in the compound. He got way too embarrassed with PDA, especially when people from the team would see.

"That sounds perfect." his eyes were full of adoration, his skin warm against her side. She leaned into him, resting her temple on his shoulder and tangling her fingers between him. Perfect was the right word to use. She couldn't imagine anything better than curling up on the couch with James Buchanan Barnes and sharing small, soft kisses and splitting a bottle of beer and watching some terrible cheesy movie while they both fought drowsiness off for as long as possible. She wanted to do it for the rest of her life, just merely exist with him. He soothed an ache in her that she didn't know was there until she met him. He was the most incredible man she'd ever known, and she couldn't hope for anyone better than him.

"Should we get garlic knots with our pizza?" she asked conspiratorially, and he shot her another smirk.

"That's what we had the first night we met. Were we watching a movie then, too?" he grinned down, and she shrugged.

"I don't remember, I don't think so. What should we watch tonight? I've been meaning to show you Austin Powers, it hits a little close to home but it's funny." she mentioned. He raised an eyebrow but the smile never left his face.

"Anything you want, doll." he said as the pair approached the car. She stifled a laugh, rolling her eyes as she unlocked the car.

"You're allowed to have an opinion on what we do you know. You don't have to just let me choose everything." she joked, sliding into the driver's seat as he dropped into the passenger's side.

"It's your world and I'm just living in it." he smirked, and her jaw dropped.

"Where did you hear that? There's no way you just thought of it now." she gushed, grinning at him. The keys dangled from her fingertips, she had been distracted by him before she could think about starting the car.

"I read it somewhere, I thought it was fitting for us." he chuckled, buckling his seatbelt and settling back. His arms crossed comfortably over his chest and he shot her a lazy grin. "Think if I order the pizza halfway home we'll beat the deliveryman to the door?"

"Interesting hypothesis." she pursed her lips, trying not to laugh. "Shall we test it?" his smirk widened.

"Definitely. Are you going to start the car?"

"Oops. Yeah, my bad." she grinned, sticking the key in the ignition before feeling the engine roar to life. "Don't forget to order half without peppers." she reminded him, and he rolled his eyes.

"I remember what I don't like on my pizza, doll, you don't have to tell me."

"Just making sure, you forgot last time and you were pretty upset." she teased him as she pulled out of the compound.

"Yeah, yeah." he grumbled, glaring down at his phone and taking a painstakingly long time getting to the pizza order app. He wasn't great with technology yet, but he was making so much progress, and she was very proud of him. She was proud of him for pretty much everything, actually. She loved him way too much to be normal. But, honestly, she couldn't bring herself to care.

**I know that I'm taking a long time between chapters on this one, and that's totally my bad, but I'm trying to make things line up with my ending and its surprisingly difficult. Thanks, you guys, for all your patience and love for this story. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: bitches broken hearts**

The universe just couldn't let her stay happy.

They had went to Tony and Pepper's wedding and had an amazing time. Bucky wore a suit, she wore a long green gown, they made a gorgeous couple and things were awesome. The wedding was absolutely beautiful, lakeside and natural and absolutely breathtaking. She wasn't embarrassed to admit she'd shed her fair share of tears. Steve had cried almost as much as her, which she found comforting. She found it surprising that Peter wasn't the best man, it was Happy Hogan, but she wasn't surprised to see that Natasha was maid of honor. Pepper had known the woman for years, and the two made an unlikely pair that shone on that day.

The after party ended up not being a disaster. Hosted at Stark Towers, celebrities were a dime a dozen inside. Superheroes, politicians, movie stars, influential speakers, models, and the like all mingled and made small talk over hors d'oeuvres. Donatella had to force a smile to speak to many of them, not at all comfortable with them. But Bucky stayed steady at her side, a stoic guard and her comfortable rock. When she tensed up too much at particularly menacing questions, he'd carefully excuse them and lead them to the bar, or the back corner, or out onto the balcony where she could relax again. People were very accusing, always nitpicking to find something wrong with her or her methods. So far nobody found a crack in her armor, but it would only be a matter of time before someone important took issue with her and her name would be slandered over ever cheap magazine in the nation.

"Doctor Belucci, I presume?" a friendlier face had approached her while Bucky ran to the bathroom, and she tried not to let her tiredness show on her expression.

"Ah, yes, that would be me." her voice sounded pathetically weak to her ears, and she held back a wince. Maybe it was nearing the time to call it a night, all the free-flowing champagne in the world couldn't fix this drained feeling.

"I work in the New York school district. Have you ever considered..." blah blah blah, another person asking her to come and teach, or come and work with them, or come to some sort of party. She'd even been invited to the next year's Met Gala by Anna Wintour herself over crab cakes by the water fountain. It was absolute insanity, and of course she'd accepted, but she wasn't even sure where she fit in with these people. She wasn't an Avenger, though they were perfectly pleasant and friendly towards her. She wasn't a celebrity, either, her biggest break was the cover of Women's Health a few months previous. Donatella certainly wasn't a politician, she had no idea what to talk about and wasn't comfortable discussing important issues in the nation that she barely knew about. And seeing all these beautiful people in one room, well, it really knocked her down a peg. She swore if she saw one more pair of glamorous legs in a sparkly minidress she would scream.

Luckily for her, Tony and Pepper jetted off through the night sky to begin their weeklong honeymoon on some obscure private island that of course was owned and maintained by Stark industries. Lucky bastards. Bucky didn't hesitate to swoop her up after they left, helping her say her goodbyes. She gave a few stern words to Peter who was still at the party after midnight, warning him to get home and get some sleep. The kid agreed sheepishly and the couple moved around to the scattered friends in the room, Steve and Thor showing no signs of stopping a heated discussion on the lost hammer Mjolnir, Natasha and Clint lurking in the shadows, Sam, Wanda, and Vision all dancing the night away, and a few more mixed into various groups of strangers.

Donatella felt boneless and exhausted by the time they'd dragged themselves home, her shoes getting kicked off right inside the entryway and her dress falling to the floor in the middle of the kitchen. She stumbled around in a plain black bra and matching panties, not feeling at all sexual after stuffing her face with mini snacks and drinking enough bubbly alcohol to help her bloat up like a balloon. Bucky seemed to share the same sentiment, kicking off his pants and pulling his shirt off without unbuttoning it before crawling into their bed. She stifled a laugh, loving how cute he looked with one cheek to the pillow, smooshing his face up into a half smile.

"G'night. Love you." he mumbled, closing his eyes and pressing a chaste kiss to her nose, his arm wrapping around her to loosely pull her into his chest. She snuggled into him with a happy sigh.

"Night Buck, love you too." she smiled back, letting her eyelids droop and listening to his breathing slow. She was lulled into a sense of peace and security, something wonderful and secret hanging between the two of them. The small space between them was warm and inviting, and she swore she could feel happiness emanating from somewhere deep within him. She slept peacefully, knowing that she was loved and happy.

It didn't last through the next day.

The morning started off painstakingly normal. Don and Bucky made breakfast, made plans, sent some deposits out for their own wedding, and it was amazingly quiet. No emergencies from the Avengers, no alien invasions, no threat of the end of the world, and no crazy family members trying to kill them. She loved their normal days. She felt relaxed and happy, and she wished that things would stay the same forever. She had a loving family, a handsome fiance, great friends, and a wonderful career. Things couldn't possibly get better, unless world peace decided it was going to be a thing.

Around noon, she got a phone call. She answered it, though it was from an unknown number. She wondered if she'd given her personal number to anyone from the night before, but couldn't recall at the time. She was pleasantly surprised by who was on the other end.

"Oh, Mark! Hey, I haven't heard from you in so long." she smiled once she realized it was Janita's son. He had been older than her when she was younger, but more recently as she entered her adult years they talked more and more.

"Hey, Donnie, it's been ages. I'm sorry for calling out of the blue." he apologized, and Bucky glanced at her curiously from his spot on the couch, the newspaper laying flat across his lap. She held a finger up to him, mouthing "Janita's son" to him as an explanation.

"It's not a problem, Mark. How is your wife? And your son, Steven?" she asked, trying to be as pleasant as possible with her mother-figure's actual son.

"Oh, they're… they're fine. Listen, I'm calling you because… well, this is hard to say." his voice cracked through the phone, and she frowned, her stomach sinking.

"What's… what's going on?" she asked. She suddenly didn't feel good about this call. She barely knew Mark, why on earth was he calling? She listened to him speak for a few moments, going more and more numb, her grip tightening on her phone as he continued to explain the situation. Even after he'd hung up, she didn't move, the phone pressed against her ear, her body completely frozen. Was she shaking? She couldn't tell, but her eyesight was getting blurry.

"Donnie?" Bucky was suddenly in front of her, but she couldn't respond. His fingers gently pried hers from her phone, setting it on the coffee table with a quiet clatter. Her bottom lip was wobbling, and he gripped her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her head up at him, forcing eye contact. "Don, what's going on? Answer me, you're scaring me." he pleaded, and she couldn't help the ugly sob that burst forth from her. She felt hot, fat tears slipping down her cheeks, her face was crumpling up as she started to hyperventilate. She couldn't fucking breathe, holy _shit_. Bucky's hands were on her shoulders now, giving her soothing words, but she wasn't quite all the way with him. She could see his blurry outline in front of her, sharp edges of his face melting into something unrecognizable. Her chest burned from lack of air, and her head felt way too light. But none of that measured up to the crushing despair that sucked the life out of her, the burning feeling in her throat no match for it. It was all too painful, she felt hollow and brimming with anguish all at once. What would she do? What _should_ she do? Everything was...

"It's Janita!" she let out a gasping sob, finally crumpling to the floor and pressing her face into her knees. Her jeans quickly became soaked with her tears, chafing uncomfortably against her skin, but _none of that mattered_.

"What happened to Janita, sweetheart? Please, you've gotta tell me what's going on." Bucky pleaded, and an embarrassing squealing sob flew from her. She couldn't control the tears, she couldn't control _anything_. "Breathe, doll, you need to breathe." he cooed to her, and she tried so hard to listen to what he said but she was hiccuping and choking on air and she had absolutely no idea how to calm down.

"She… sh-she… in her sleep." Don tried to choke out, the words jumbling together in a staccato fashion, her words sharp but her cries in between muffling the vowels. "Aneurysm… she had an aneurysm…" she gasped, finally.

"Is she okay? Do we need to go out there?" he asked, and she could see his eyes rapidly darting over her face, and another keening sob escaped her.

"N-n-n-she's-" she tried to speak again but the words just wouldn't come out, and her breaths were beginning to make her feel lightheaded. "Dead." the word left an acidic taste in her mouth. Her sobs quieted then, as if the reality of the situation finally made it to her brain. The room was hushed, and the tears stopped falling, her breaths evening out until she was no longer shaking and lightheaded. "Janita is dead." she repeated, and the look in Bucky's eyes as he knelt in front of her…

"Oh my god, Donnie…" his voice was barely a whisper, and he sat down fully on the ground then, reaching out and pulling her close. That warmth that she'd felt the night before played at the edges of her heart, but it felt torn out. Janita… her _mother_ was dead. Her real mother. The woman who'd raised her, who'd played dress up with her… She was the one who'd gossiped with her about the boys in her grade, who could tell when her friends were fake before she could. She made her breakfast every morning and her favorite dinners every night. She'd always been there for her, to clean up her messes and just to provide comfort when she needed it.

She remembered bringing home her first boyfriend to introduce to her. He didn't get why it was so important that Janita liked him.

"_She's just your housekeeper, babe_." the kid had said, and Don remembered that she had gotten extremely angry at him for saying that. Janita wasn't "just" anything. She was _everything_. In recent years, they'd seen each other less and less, but just because you don't always see someone doesn't mean that you lose your love for them. She loved Janita, more than anything. That boyfriend didn't last long, for the obvious reasons. Janita had been everything to her for almost her entire life. She was the only one she'd loved so deeply, the most important person to her, at least until she met Bucky.

It hurt, so much to think about how she was gone. The wound was too fresh, too new to be able to come to terms with it. She knew in her mind she'd have to pull it together and get home, to help with the funeral arrangements. But for a moment she just let herself take comfort in Bucky's arms around her.

The next day she managed to pack some things up, and she and Bucky drove the short distance to Janita's house, where Mark greeted her with a teary smile and quick hug.

"I'm so sorry…" Donatella shook her head at him, trying to convey her feelings for what he'd lost.

"Hey. None of that. I don't need you to try and show me any sympathy. You're losing just as much as I am." he choked out, pressing his hand into her shoulder. He was much older than her, but she felt a kinship with the man. They'd been raised by the same strong, wonderful, amazing woman, and they both felt they'd have to do her proud, even after she passed.

"I want to pay for all the funeral bills." she wiped her eyes, trying to straighten her spine and not look quite so miserable.

"You don't have to do that." Mark protested, and she gave a sharp shake of her head.

"You know I have to." she pleaded, and he hesitated before nodding. She sighed in relief when he gave in, pulling him into another hug, thankful that he'd let her do at least that. She knew that technically she had no right to be a part of all of this, but Mark was letting her in, and she was so grateful.

Janita wasn't her birth mother, just her legal guardian. She could have been thrown in the foster system, or handed off to some super distant relative, but Janita had fought to keep Donatella in her own home, setting aside so much of her life to bring her up. The woman probably could have retired long before then, but instead she decided to raise Donatella as her own, no matter how much work it had taken. Don was never able to show her foster mother how much that had meant to her. And now she never could.

"You alright?" Bucky murmured in her ear once they entered Janita's house, and she gave a stiff nod, trying not to sniffle.

"I'll be fine." she glanced around at the inside, realizing she hadn't been there in years. Janita had moved out from the main house when Don had gone off to college the first time, buying a small place just ten minutes out. It was quaint, neat, clean and bright, small little pieces of Janita's personality everywhere. The cookie jar, copper pots, the wooden cutting boards, the pasta roller, the forest green couch with the orange knit blanket tossed over the back. All of it brought back so many memories. Don felt her stomach tighten uncomfortably.

"I didn't ask how you're going to be. I want to know if you're okay right now." he sighed, stepping in front of her, his eyes gleaming with concern, his lips parted in anticipation for what she would say. She felt herself swallow, and she tore her eyes from him to glance back around at the small home, a ghost of a smile flitting over her lips.

"I think I'm okay." she replied, looking at a picture hanging on the wall. Donatella's junior prom. Janita had insisted on making her dress, and it was absolutely gorgeous. It was a deep satin plum, with a full skirt and a halter top, small beads adorning the bodice of it and trimming the hem. She stood with her date, a kid she hadn't spoken to since that night, but she remembered it like it was yesterday. Bucky glanced over to what she was looking at, a small smile quirking up the corners of his lips.

"That you?" he stepped over to it, tracing a finger over her face. She had a pretty grin in the picture, and her hair was coiffed in an awful curly bun.

"Yeah, the hair was a disaster, but the dress more than made up for it." she chuckled softly, moving to stand next to him. "Janita made it for me, I got to pick out the fabric with her and everything. God, it took months to get it done, but it was worth every second. I went on my first diet then, I wanted to look good, but she gave me so much crap for it."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because she had to keep taking the dress in! That's what she said, anyways. I think it was more about me thinking that I wasn't skinny enough to be pretty. She got mad when I said that to her, even threatened to not let me go to the prom." she sighed, moving to tangle her fingers with him. He squeezed her hand reassuringly, and she shot him a grateful smile. "She was always saying that I was perfect the way I was, that I shouldn't try to change for anybody except myself. She was the smartest person I've ever known."

"Don't let Tony hear you say that." Bucky joked, and she scoffed, but a small laugh managed to escape her anyways.

"It's the truth. I always knew that if I listened to what she said, everything would work out for me." she sighed.

"She always knew exactly what to do." Mark's voice floated from behind the pair, and Donatella whirled to face him. He had a sad smile on his face, holding a white envelope. "She left this for you."

"Oh…" Donatella stared down at the paper. This was what she had left of her? What was left of her mother? Her last words? She suddenly felt overwhelmed again. "I'll… read it when I get home." she tucked it safely in her purse. What would it say? Had she realized that she would die soon? Why didn't she ask Don for help?

"She cared about you like you were her own, you know. She was so proud of you." Mark mentioned, glancing at a photo on the wall. It was of Donatella as a child, making a ridiculous pouting face. She had been such a brat at that age.

"I could tell. She always told me that I was her daughter." she gave Mark a weak smile.

"She hung on, for a long time because of you." he said softly. She jolted at that, giving him an incredulous look.

"What do you mean?" she asked, squeezing Bucky's hand.

"She wasn't doing well these past few years. She didn't want to tell you, didn't want to worry you." he revealed. She swallowed, hard. She knew that this would be coming? Why didn't she tell her? She could have spent more time with her, looked into what was wrong with her- "Don't overthink it. She held on because she couldn't stand the thought of leaving you all alone."

"I…" Donatella swallowed again, her mouth suddenly dry. Bucky was stroking his thumb over the back of her hand, doing his best to comfort her without interrupting. "Leaving me alone?"

"No offense, Don, but until recently… you didn't have many people in your life." Mark was blunt, but she could see the empathy shining in his eyes. He cared about what he was saying, and she appreciated it. "She hung onto what she had so that you wouldn't be abandoned again. That was always her biggest fear. To leave you behind."

"She… sh-she…" her bottom lip was wobbling again, and she couldn't stop the fat tears from rolling down her cheeks. Abandoned… again. How many times had Janita woken her up from her nightmares, sobbing about the loss of her parents? The parents who had left her behind, deserted her, a _child_. Janita had been just as upset and confused as she had been. But Janita took up the mantle of comforter, became her new mommy, gave her reality checks when she was a brat and support when she was afraid. Sure she had followed in her parents' footsteps, but everything she became was because of Janita.

"Mom cared so much. And it hurt her to know that her time was ending soon. But she knew you'd have someone to lean on without her." Mark gave a sad smile. She realized then that Janita was right. The woman had always been right. She was leaning on Bucky, he was keeping her head above water. He comforted her, held her, talked to her. Things had been awful since she'd heard the news, but he carried half her burden. She felt lighter with him. She was dwelling so much on her past with Janita, but she had the opportunity to look towards her future with him. It was still so, so painful. But at least she wasn't alone.

"It's okay, sweetheart." Bucky murmured to her as Mark walked off towards the back room. She gave him a weak smile before clearing her throat. He squeezed her hand before moving towards the kitchen, pulling a glass from the drying rack in the sink and filling it with water. He offered it to her, and she grabbed it with shaking hands. After a small sip she felt her trembling slow.

"Thank you." she whispered, her voice cracking.

"Don't need you getting dehydrated." he joked, pulling a chair out at the table for her. She sat and thanked him again, and he took a seat beside her, gripping her hand again. She gave another weak smile, clearing her throat.

"I'm at a loss for what happens next." she revealed. He nodded at her, but didn't say anything. She was kind of glad he wasn't giving her suggestions or telling her what she should be doing. And then she realized that he'd gone through this before, long before. She'd lost someone, but he'd already lost _everything_. She felt guilty, and selfish.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He could see right through her. She hadn't even said a word and he realized that her emotions had switched.

"I realized that this whole time, you must have been feeling the same thing I have." she frowned, and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"I didn't know Janita the same way you did. I mean, I knew her, and cared about her, but-"

"That wasn't what I meant." Donatella interrupted him. "You've lost your entire family. You lost everyone you've ever known when you were taken. And we never talked about it."

"Well…" he sighed. "I haven't exactly brought it up for discussion. Haven't really wanted to either." she felt her stomach curl in on itself. She'd plowed right over what he would think on the subject and went straight for trying to make herself feel better. She always did this. She'd just open her mouth without any thought on how he'd react.

"I'm sorry, I…"

"Don't apologize." he shook his head, raking his fingers through his hair. It was longer than before, but not by much. "I just… It's hard to come to terms with. And talking about it means it's actually reality."

"This isn't you reality?" Don swallowed hard.

"This is more like… my favorite dream that I'm scared to wake up from." he gave her a ghost of a smile.

"You don't want to wake up?" she asked. Bucky sighed, running his hand through his hair again.

"I finally have something good. I don't feel like I'm worth all this, but I'm scared if I blink it'll all be gone." he admitted. She bit her lip, her stomach sinking.

"Buck. This is real." she smiled. "And I'm not going anywhere. None of us are."

"Well, I could think of a few people that I wouldn't mind getting rid of." he gave a small grin.

"You're awful." Donatella rolled her eyes with a laugh, but he just shrugged back at her. She felt some of the stress leaching from her, leaving her feeling a little lighter, her heart less heavy. She wasn't stupid, she knew he couldn't fix her pain, her loss was absolutely too much for that. But at least she had something to help her through it.

It would take time. Obviously it wouldn't be something she could get over in a few days. Months, maybe years to come to terms with Janita being gone. Maybe she'd never come to terms with it. Donnie bit her lip again, trying not to let herself cry again. She had shed too many tears already that day, and she had a lot of things to get done. She had to be strong.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: Lay All Your Love on Me**

It was hard. It was so, so hard. Donatella felt physical pain trying to make the decision. She glared down at the table in front of her, gnawing on her bottom lip. Bucky squeezed her hand, being her support for this moment. She would regret it if she made the wrong decision for the rest of her life.

"Bucky, help." she whined, her face scrunching with the effort of trying to make the decision. He sighed, looking down at the table with her.

There were three slices of cake in front of them. One chocolate, one white, and one red velvet.

"Is red velvet too crazy for a wedding?" she fretted. Bucky just shrugged, and she bumped him with her hip.

"They all taste good."

"But which one is your _favorite_?" she groaned. He looked between the three again with a sigh.

"I like vanilla…" he gave her a cautious glance.

"Okay, we're doing vanilla then." she nodded, feeling relieved that he made the decision for her.

"Wait, not unless that's the one you want!" he protested. She groaned, glaring down at the table again. "Let's try them all again?"

"I can't!" she almost sobbed, dropping her head onto the table. "I have my dress appointment at two!"

"Do you like the vanilla or chocolate better?" he sighed.

"Vanilla." she mumbled.

"Are you saying that just because I said it?"

"...maybe." she buried her face in her arms. They'd been at the cake tasting for nearly an hour and they'd gotten nowhere. She was going to be late for her appointment at the boutique at this rate, it was nearly one.

"Which one is your favorite, sweetheart?" he said, rubbing a soothing hand between her shoulders.

"Red velvet." she replied weakly.

"We can do red velvet. I liked that one too." he reassured her.

"But will everyone like it?" she groaned.

"As far as I'm concerned, this wedding is all about us. I could care less what everyone else thinks about it." he smirked.

"I know you don't care, but that doesn't mean I can't." she mumbled, leaning into his touch.

"Hey. I just want you to be happy when we get married. Is that too much to ask?" Bucky teased, and she let out a short laugh. "I'd marry you in a sewer if I had to."

"Ew." she wrinkled her nose up, but laughed anyways. Of course he'd make her feel better. He always did.

"The wedding is small. The only people coming are the people closest to us. So we can do whatever we want, doll." he reassured her. She couldn't stop the small grin from appearing on her face when he said that.

Of course Bucky would make everything better. She was floating after that, choosing the red velvet (making sure it was okay with him first of course) and then she was on her way to her dress appointment. The rest of the ladies met her at the store, already in a small seating area with small pedestal, presumably for her to model on. They all had champagne at the ready and were already cracking jokes. Her stomach sank as she looked through the lineup. Pepper, Nat, Wanda, and even Shuri had come out for the occasion. But Janita was meant to be there. Tears welled up in her eyes before she could stop them, and Pepper immediately stood to comfort her, somehow knowing exactly what was wrong.

"Hey, she wouldn't want you to be crying over her while you're dress shopping. Come on, we'll go pick out a few and get started, okay?" the strawberry blond whipped out a binder from a large handbag that she and Donatella had put together weeks before. It contained photos of prospective dresses and things so that they weren't going into the appointment totally blind, but Don felt almost immediately overwhelmed by the hundreds of dresses lining the walls. White after white after white, she was almost dizzy by the hangers whizzing in front of her eyes. Natasha was whipping dresses out of the way faster than she could see them, the ones that she knew wouldn't work with what Don wanted, and Wanda scrutinized each and every swath of fabric, thinking long and hard before deciding if she should show it to the bride-to-be.

She fingered the pink sapphire around her neck nervously as she glanced through the options. She stopped, staring at one. It was pushed off into a corner, but she spotted it right away. Most of it was hidden, but she gravitated towards it, and when she reached out to touch it Pepper popped up right next to her. She almost jumped.

"Want me to bring this one back for you?" Pepper asked. Donatella merely nodded, staring at it. It was gorgeous, she could already tell through the dress bag. It wasn't strapless, wasn't tight, wasn't too poofy. She was so intrigued, pretty much smitten with it and it wasn't even on her yet. She didn't know what she would do if she didn't like it. Pepper whisked it out of her sight, and she felt herself start breathing again. She practically itched to put it on, was that normal? Natasha and Wanda each picked out another few on their own to show her, but she felt like they all were a bit blah. All she wanted was to put on that one dress, _her_ dress and finally walk down the aisle. God, she was ready to get married in it and she wasn't even wearing it yet.

"Ready?" Wanda gestured towards the overflowing room. Suddenly overwhelmed, Don halted in front of the door.

"Um…" she was surrounded by swaths of white, so much fabric, and her stomach curled in on itself. What if she hated them all? What if she looked awful in all of them? What if she picked a dress that everyone hated? Or if Bucky saw her in it and realized he didn't want to marry her after all? She took a tentative step back, but Natasha was suddenly there at her side, pressing against her in a half hug.

"We're gonna go in together, alright?" the woman could read her like a book. "You're not alone through this. We're gonna find you a dress that'll knock Barnes' socks off, and you're gonna feel beautiful."

"Right." she gave a weak nod, and Nat dragged her in the room. It took hours for her to finally pick, but when she was done she felt a huge weight lift off her chest. Of course the girls were ready to go out for drinks to celebrate after she put the order in, even though Shuri couldn't drink. Many drinks later and everyone was about ready to go home, except for Donatella.

"Hey, come on." Wanda tugged the girl towards the door.

"Can't get up." Don slurred from the booth, leaned over the table crookedly.

"Come on, Donnie." Natasha hefted the girl, not tipsy at all. Donatella had drank enough for the entire group, and the women were all amused by the nervous girl's antics. "Let's get you home to Barnes, okay?"

"Nooo!" she wailed, flopping back towards the booth to lay down. "I can't see him. Not before the wedding."

"I think that only applies to the night before the ceremony." Pepper fought back a grin.

"It does?" Donatella pressed the side of her face against the cold, sticky table. After Wanda nodded at her, a dazed smile overcame her features. "Oh. Good. I wanna see him." she slurred.

"Great, good to know." Pepper chuckled as Natasha helped her up once more, practically carrying her to the car. Don lolled back and forth over the seats the whole way back to her apartment, dazed and slightly confused. By the time they made it back she was more than half asleep, and Natasha helped her into the building and up the stairs in an extremely timely manner. Donnie couldn't remember the last time she'd been quite so plastered, but the thought only ran through her mind briefly.

"Wake up Barnes, I've got a delivery." Natasha called through the apartment, amusement clear in her tone.

"Oooh, we got mail?" Don blinked sleepily. Nat didn't reply, but a form shuffled through the living room and towards them.

"It's really late." a low voice murmured as Natasha passed Don over to the new person. She felt comfortable in the new set of arms, and she relaxed, turning practically boneless. The person had no problem supporting her, and she took full advantage of that.

"We were celebrating. You should try it sometime, maybe then you won't always look so constipated." Natasha's smooth voice flowed through Donatella's ears as she relaxed.

"I don't look _constipated_." the mysterious deep voice rumbled next to her, and she sighed happily as they managed to lift her off the floor. "How much did she have? She's completely plastered."

"She had enough. It was a celebration. Loosen up, okay?" Natasha sounded stern, and footsteps sounded as she walked off. When had she closed her eyes? She couldn't find the strength to open them.

"I'll try." the voice rumbled through the air again as the front door clicked closed. "Let's get you ready for bed?"

"I'm getting married." Don felt herself giggle, cracking an eye open to watch the blurry figure above her.

"Oh, really." the voice sounded amused.

"Really." she sighed. "I love him. So much, more than anything." she was smiling, she couldn't help herself. "I hope he loves me like I love him."

"I think he does. More than you could ever know." the voice reassured her. She sighed happily, nestling closer to the figure as they moved through the apartment.

"We're gonna get married in my beautiful dress." she grinned, butterflies flitting through her stomach at the thought.

"Is it beautiful?" the voice was soft when it asked this.

"_So _beautiful. The most beautiful."

"You look good in anything." the voice replied.

"Oh, my Bucky said that to me once. We met a long time ago. I thought he was really hot." she smiled again.

"Oh, you did?" more amusement.

"Definitely. He was smokin'." she slurred. She felt the person laugh silently, and she cracked her eyes open again, trying to focus on the face above her. "Where are we goin'?" she struggled to turn, everything was blurry and swaying. It hurt her head, so she closed her eyes and leaned against her mode of transportation with a low groan.

"You need to sleep the booze off." they replied, and she felt herself get set down gently into a puffy, cloud-like embrace. God, she loved her bed, she almost moaned at the feeling. She felt hands come over her, ghosting over her hips and reaching for the button on her pants. She immediately slapped them off, rolling away.

"Don't!" she shouted, curling up.

"Donnie, what's wrong?" the voice sounded alarmed.

"Don't touch me there, where's Bucky? My Bucky?" she glanced around blearily, looking for the man she loved. She didn't see him, but then again she couldn't really see anything. The room was spinning, so she laid back down. "I want my Bucky." she whimpered.

"It's me, okay? Just me. It's Bucky." a soothing voice was close to her ear, and she shivered, rolling towards it.

"Bucky?" she murmured, reaching out.

"I just want to change you into your pajamas, okay? It's Bucky. It's me, sweetheart." the voice was familiar, it _was _her Bucky. She sighed contentedly, practically flopping into his lap.

"My Bucky." she murmured.

"Here, let me help you into pajamas." he cooed softly.

"Okay." she sighed, relaxing into him as nimble fingers lifted the fabric from her skin. She leaned into him, reaching up to pull him down into a kiss, feeling heated from the way he touched her bare skin.

"Hey, you need to sleep." he pulled away after a few moments, and she felt herself whine.

"Kiss me." she groaned, trying not to pout.

"Sleep." he shot back. She tried not to yawn as she rolled over, crossing her arms over her chest in frustration.

"You hate me." she moaned into her pillow.

"I do not-" he sighed frustratedly, tugging her shoulder to roll her back towards him. "I don't _hate_ you." her vision was starting to clear, and she could see his eyes gleaming in the low light, the sharp angles of his face causing shadows over his expression.

"You do." she taunted.

"No, I don't. I love you." his voice was low as he said it, and she began to feel herself sober up. Her breath hitched in her throat, and her eyes followed the way his tongue darted over his bottom lip, wetting it, just begging for her touch.

"Then kiss me." her words came out in whispers, and he hesitated for a moment. She felt her face begin to crumple, but she wasn't sure why she was so upset. Then, he finally leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She responded instantly, her fingers automatically tangling into the short hair on the back of his neck. His lips were soft and insistent, pressing slow, heated kisses against hers and making her brain melt out of her ears. She tried not to groan when he pulled back again, but a small whimper escaped her.

"I love you. Now go to sleep." he murmured, pulling the sheets up and over her and tucking her in. He leaned over the bed to flick the switch, bathing the room in darkness. She struggled against the blankets, but he wrapped an arm around her, halting her movements and pulling her tightly against him in one swift movement. "_Sleep_." he nearly growled. She settled against his side, soaking up the warmth that emanated from him, unable to fight of the drowsiness any longer. She felt warm and happy and loved.

The feeling followed through the next day when Don groaned awake with a pounding head and a dry mouth. She yanked the covers over her head, whimpering at the hangover.

"Need some water?" a soft voice cooed, and she peeked out from beneath the blanket to see him waiting with a bottle of aspirin and a tall, cold glass of water. She murmured a thank you, chugging half of it before laying back down. "Want the remote?" he held out the TV remote, sitting just on the edge of the bed, peering at her with humor in his eyes.

"Lay down." she croaked weakly, tugging at the hem of his t-shirt and rolling onto her side.

"Need anything before I do?"

"No, just you." she pressed her face into his neck and inhaled once he was settled beside her, her churning stomach calming as time went on. His breathing was even and slow, but she could tell he was still awake. Her fingers fiddled with the collar of his shirt, spotting a small fraying hole near the back where the tag had been ripped off. She pressed a soft kiss to his pulse point, but neither of them took their affections further than that. They were content to lay there, holding each other and basking in the other's presence. It felt like they'd been laying there for hours before either of them broke the silence.

"How do you feel?" he mumbled into the top of her head. She sighed, pulling back a bit.

"Like a trainwreck." Donatella grumbled.

"You look like one too." she slapped his side in annoyance when he said that. "I'm just kidding, okay? Kidding." he chuckled. "You're beautiful."

"Yeah, you're marrying this beautiful woman so you'd better act right." she stifled a laugh as she sat up. The painkillers did their job, her headache was barely a dull throb in the back of her skull. "I'm hungry."

"Well, it's almost lunch time. Can this beautiful woman hold out for thirty minutes until we can order Chinese?" Bucky coaxed her. She bit her lip, glancing at the clock on the nightstand.

"You know me so well." she smirked at him. He let a slow, lazy smile grow over his face as he stretched, standing from the bed. She tried not to ogle, but then realized she could ogle as much as she wanted. He was going to be her husband. They'd promised to make vows to each other… to love each other as long as they both lived. That sounded so cheesy, even to her. But she loved it. Loved _him_. When did she turn into such a mushy person? She used to hate people like this. The ones who were enamored with their partner, who put them above all else. She thought it was stupid. Thought it was weird, strange, unhealthy. But now she understood. It wasn't any of those things. It was just… right.

"How was your night last night? I didn't get a chance to ask you." he smiled at her, walking softly to the bathroom, presumably to brush his teeth.

"Oh, good as always. We had a lot of fun, especially after… well, I had a mild freakout at the bridal shop." she winced.

"What happened?" he appeared back in the doorway, concern shining bright in those blue eyes.

"Too many dresses." Donatella laughed. He frowned, stepping over to her where she still sat on the bed.

"You sure that was it? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's all fine. It worked out in the end, anyways." she sighed, sliding to the edge and dangling her feet to the floor.

"Did it?" he asked, assuring himself that all was well.

"Of course. I got my dress, we put down a deposit for a caterer, we have a venue and a cake… it feels so real now." she sighed, flopping backwards so she was staring at the ceiling.

"Hasn't it been real this whole time?" he was suddenly seated next to her on the bed.

"Technically. But…" she sighed, trying to explain it. "You know when you know something is going to happen, but it's far off? So like, in the back of your mind, it's not quite… real yet."

"I guess." he frowned, looking down at her. "But I'm still not sure I understand what you're feeling."

"I feel excited. I've always felt excited. But I'm also nervous." she sighed, raking a hand down her face.

"About?"

"Getting married? I don't know."

"Do you not want to?" he suddenly looked alarmed, and she sat up quickly.

"No! I mean, yes I want to get married, why would I have said yes if I didn't?" she reassured him, and he relaxed slightly. "I just… this is so hard to explain!" she groaned, pressing her face into her hands.

"It's okay, Don. I can give you some time if you need it." he made a move to stand up but she gripped his metal arm, keeping him next to her.

"Bucky, stay." she almost whined. He pursed his lips, and she realized she had to figure out how to fix this fast.

"Okay." he replied softly.

"There is nothing wrong with us getting married. I want to marry you. So, so much." she bit her lip, trying to help him understand. But he still wouldn't meet her eyes. "But there's a part of me that's worried… because of what comes next. Usually first step is being your wife. And I'm so, so excited for it. And then, after usually wife turns into mother…"

"I thought we talked about kids." he shot her another alarmed look, and her hands fluttered over his shoulders to try and calm him down.

"We did! And, we're on the same page, okay?" she reassured him. "I'm just… scared."

"Of what?" he had somewhat relaxed now. "Modern medicine is great, there shouldn't be any complications…"

"Well, you don't think I know that?" she sighed. "I'm scared of what comes after that. Actually being a mom. My parents weren't great, remember."

"That doesn't mean you won't be a good mom." he frowned.

"That doesn't mean I won't be a bad mom either." she reminded him.

"Hey." he leaned closer to her, wrapping his arms tightly around her. She relaxed into his embrace, feeling the tension slowly melt out of her spine as he squeezed her close to his chest. "You are what you make of it. Just being nervous about being a bad parent makes me think you're going to try hard."

"What were your parents like?" she asked hesitantly. He paused, shoulders stiffening for a moment. She immediately regretted asking, she wanted to take it back. Anything to keep him from closing himself off from her.

"They were good." he replied quietly. She tried not to breathe out a sigh of relief. "There were a lot of us. We got to do our own things, have our own lives, but we always got to come home to them. They were always there for us. Even for Steve." he breathed out a soft chuckle. "Better than I could have ever asked for."

"Did you ever look into what happened to your family?" she asked, curious now that he had opened up.

"I don't want to. I never wanted to." he replied sharply. "They had their lives and I wasn't there for it. It's not my place to pine over something I missed."

"Bucky, it's okay to miss them… to want to know." she sat back, eyes raking over his face to gauge his expression.

"I don't want to know." Bucky repeated. "If I know… I'll wish I was there. But… I _don't_ wish I was there. I want to be here. I want to stay right here. With you. Forever." his lips touched her forehead tenderly, and she felt her throat tighten with tears at his confession.

"I won't blame you if you wish you were there. I hate what you had to go through to be here. I hate that you had to miss out on your whole life…" she admitted, trying not to choke on her words.

"If I was there, I would have missed out on the best thing to ever happen to me." he frowned, and she looked down at her feet.

"If you were there, you wouldn't have had to suffer at the hands of HYDRA." she retorted, suddenly feeling angry.

"What's done is done, Donatella. We can't change the past, if we want to or not. And I don't want to change it. I wouldn't change it for anything." he took a deep breath, and she felt the angry tears stinging her eyes. "All of it was worth it. For you."

"How do you know that I'm worth it? How do you know you won't wake up in ten years and resent me? Resent this century… resent the world for what it did to you?" she choked out.

"I could never hate you. Ever. Not in this world, not in the next. I promise that will never happen." he swore, arms suddenly gripping her tight again.

"I'm sorry." the tears streamed down freely, and she suddenly felt embarrassed. "I don't know why I'm feeling this way."

"I don't know either, and I don't care. As long as we end up on the same team. We're in this together, Donnie. For the long run." he reminded her.

"Not for the long run. Forever." she corrected him, wiping her face with the hem of her shirt.

"Right. Forever." he chuckled, relaxing as he held onto her. "Now, how do we get you to feel better? Lo mein? General Tso's? Some eggrolls, maybe?"

"All of the above?" she suggested, and a loud laugh escaped him.

"You're right, I should have guessed that." he leaned down to press his lips against hers, and she felt him smiling into the kiss. Suddenly she pulled back, her nose wrinkling up.

"I didn't brush my teeth yet." she covered her mouth.

"Well, I haven't gotten around to it either." he admitted, and she scrunched her nose again.

"Gross." she mumbled, trying to pull herself from his grip.

"We're both gross. Get over it." he guided her face back towards his with his thumb and forefinger on her chin, and she did get over it. So quickly, in fact, that they didn't manage to order their lunch for another hour. But neither of them seemed to care too much.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: Kiss me Thru the Phone**

"Hey." Donatella could hear his soft smile over the phone receiver.

"Hey." she echoed Bucky's nonchalant greeting.

"So… this is weird." he cleared his throat. Don stifled a laugh.

"What, the fact that you're calling me or that you're sleeping on Steve's couch?" she teased.

"Both. Especially the first. I don't think we've ever talked on the phone."

"Yes, we have." she smiled.

"No? I don't remember." his voice crackled through the speaker, familiar and warm. She bit her lip, thinking of what to say. Talking on the phone was always so different, she was weirdly nervous.

"We definitely have. You think we've never had to call each other before? Where have you been?" she laughed. She could practically see his face then, the furrow between his brows, that confused look on his face that she loved to be the cause of.

"Well, I guess we have… I don't know, usually we're together." he sighed. "Are we really going to argue about this the night before our wedding?" her stomach filled with butterflies when he said that, and she felt an uncontrollable grin creep over her face.

"When aren't we arguing? It wouldn't be any different than a normal night at our apartment." she teased.

"Well, we shouldn't." he sounded stern.

"Alright Sargeant, calm down." she smirked through the phone. He sighed again, and she tried not to laugh at his reaction.

"You're giving me premature gray hairs." he sounded tired, and she bit her lip, trying to reel it in.

"Well, you are over a hundred years old." she said quickly. "Okay that was the last one." she promised. "Grandpa."

"Okay, you can't say it was the last one and then take another dig. It doesn't work like that."

"Try me." she felt a little bit smug.

"I… okay I'm done arguing about this." he laughed tiredly, and she felt a little bit bad that this was how she was spending their phone call. They wanted to try the old-fashioned thing, where they didn't see each other the night before the wedding and didn't meet again until they were at the aisle. She kind of regretted it now, though. She missed him. All she wanted to do was curl up into his side and fall asleep. She supposed she couldn't get any cold feet when all she wanted was to see him.

"So what are you wearing?" she asked cheekily. She heard him sigh again, but she could hear the smile in his voice this time.

"Someone should pour a bucket of cold water on you." he sounded amused. She felt a bark of laughter escape her when he said that. She felt a rush of happiness wash over her, and she felt good. Just talking to him made her so… indescribably happy. They were about to be married. Who wouldn't be absolutely ecstatic to be with that man? Gorgeous, funny, kind, thoughtful… great in the sack. And, speaking of...

"I have something I want to tell you." she admitted. He was quiet for a second.

"What is it?" his voice was clear, but with an undercurrent of worry tremoring underneath.

"It's nothing bad!" she reassured him. "So, I went to the doctor the other day. I know we haven't really talked about this…" Don bit her lip.

"Okay, stop trailing off and tell me." he sounded nervous.

"Hey, I said it was nothing bad." she huffed, rolling onto her side and pressing the phone closer to her ear. She heard a loud huff of breath escape him and she felt herself smile. "I should have talked to you first, but I got my IUD taken out."

"Your what?" he sounded confused again.

"IUD." she repeated. He was quiet for a moment.

"The thing that… stops you from getting pregnant?" he clarified. "But we don't even know if I'm for sure sterile yet, I haven't gotten tested, are you sure that it was a good idea?" Bucky was speaking fast, much faster than usual. She could tell he was worried.

"Hey, slow down for a minute. Take a deep breath." she heard him inhale and hold it for a few seconds over the receiver before he blew it out.

"What if you get pregnant?" he asked quietly.

"Buck. I took it out because… I wanted to tell you I'm ready. To start trying, at least." he was silent, and she was worried that he'd hung up for a few moments.

"You're… ready." he breathed out.

"To start trying." she clarified.

"You… want to start trying. For a baby." he paused. "For _our_ baby."

"It feels like it's time." Donatella replied. He was quiet again, for so long that she got nervous. "Bucky? Buck, if you're not ready-"

"No." he cut her off. "It's not that I'm not. It's just…" he paused again. She figured he was taking some time to think through what he wanted to say. "What if we can't?" he finished his thought.

"We'll figure it out." she shrugged even though he couldn't see it.

"But-"

"Hey." she interrupted him this time, not letting him overthink. "For now, we see where this takes us. If it happens, it happens. You don't have to take the test right away. We don't have to actively try right away. I'm not rushing you at all here. If you want to use protection, we can. If I get pregnant, it happens. If we have to look into alternatives, we will. But we… I know that we can figure it out."

"Are you sure that you're ready?" he sounded worried.

"Bucky, stop worrying." she smiled. "This is something that I've thought about. And I know that as long as I have you, I'm ready for anything."

"It sounds like you put way too much faith in me."

"I put just enough faith in you. Don't worry about it, okay? Let things happen. Go with the flow." she teased.

"I guess you're right." he sighed. The line was quiet for a moment after that.

"Why does it feel so awkward to talk over the phone?" she asked. He let out a soft chuckle.

"I don't know. I'm used to looking at you when I talk to you. I'm just trying to picture you in my mind right now."

"What do I look like?" she smiled.

"Right now? Blurry." he replied, and she felt a bark of laughter escape her. She shifted, sitting up. "No, really. I'm trying to think about where your freckles are. You have one right above your lip, and then another in your hairline…" he sounded pensive, and her stomach fluttered.

"You're looking at a picture right now, aren't you." she breathed, trying to sound amused.

"No picture. I just remember your face." he assured her. She bit her lip, not sure of how to respond. "You've also got that one mole right behind your ear."

"I do?" she quickly brought her fingertips up to prod both hear ears, finding the mole behind the left one. "I do." she smiled. "How do you remember that?"

"I find it every morning." Bucky admitted.

"Every morning?" she furrowed her brows, thinking hard to see if she could remember a time when he'd look behind her ear. She squinted down at her feet, trying to picture the way he woke up. "Do you kiss my ear mole every morning?" she laughed, thinking of how he always pressed his lips to the spot just behind her ear.

"Maybe." he sounded smug.

"Weirdo." she smiled.

"You love it." he teased back. She loved him alright. There was nothing better to her than he was, nothing that gave her the pull in her gut, the pounding in her chest, the lightness in her heart. Nobody could make her feel the way he did. He was something else. Almost otherworldly. He was something beautiful of the stars, rich like the earth, sweet like the rain and warm as the sun. She sounded so poetic, god it was gross. But he was poetic. He was perfectly imperfect. She could hardly imagine how dim her life would be without him. Without him… she'd feel so empty. Donatella recalled the time that Bucky had been in Wakanda. She hadn't been herself, hadn't felt alive… not without him. She remembered as soon as she saw him, that first time, she'd actually _felt_ something. Sure, it had been anger, but it was so much better than the emptiness she'd been consumed by before then.

"Yeah. I love it." she replied softly.

"I really do miss you." he repeated.

"After tomorrow, we won't have to miss each other ever again." she smiled. She could practically hear him smiling back.

…

"Are you nervous?" Natasha asked as she smoothed her hands over her skirt.

"Of _course_ I'm fucking nervous." Don was pacing back and forth in front of the vanity in the small room that the venue had given her to get ready in. They were in a simple little church on the outskirts of Queens, cute and small and just the right size for her group of people. Tony had balked when Don told him where she wanted to marry Bucky, but the little church had grown on him. Bucky wasn't a religious man, but he had some traditions that were important to him, and Don was more than happy to oblige the few requests he'd had about the wedding.

"Do you need some champagne? An Ambien?" Nat teased, and Donatella rolled her eyes.

"I'm about to get married, I don't need to get drunk. Or high." she muttered, crossing her arms before moving to stand in front of the mirror. Donatella had to admit, she looked the best she ever had. A perfect coif, glowy, flawless skin, and her boobs looked great. She was practically embellished in her dress, fine details all over the bodice and the way it fit the smallest part of her waist caused a pretty shape that she normally didn't have. She would live in the dress if she could, but unfortunately this would be her one day to wear it. Don promised herself she'd make the most of it.

"Uh, can I come in?" a voice was at the door, and Natasha and Don whirled to see Steve sheepishly standing just outside, his hand covering his eyes.

"You're allowed to see the bride, just the groom can't look." Natasha strode over and yanked his arm down, and he gave her a weak smile.

"Sorry, wasn't sure if everyone was decent." he admitted, looking over at Don. "Wow, you look beautiful. Buck's gonna cry." he grinned.

"What's going on? Why are you here?" Donatella suddenly became alarmed. "Is everything okay? The wedding march starts in ten minutes, oh god did the band cancel?" she began to pace again, her fingers coming up to tug at the pink sapphire dangling around her neck.

"No, no, nothing like that." Steve assured her. Nat shot him a look.

"What's wrong then?" the redhead looked suspicious. "The other bridesmaids are all lined up, right?"

"Wanda and Shuri are waiting in the wings, don't worry. It's Bucky… he's having a bit of anxiety. I can't calm him down." Steve pursed his lips, worry shining in his eyes.

"Oh god, is he okay? I'm going to talk to him." Don began to stride towards the door, but Natasha grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

"You can't see him before you walk down the aisle. We had this conversation, remember?" the redhead narrowed her eyes at her friend. Somehow, someway, Natasha and Donatella managed to find solace in each other. Unlikely friends, they liked to think.

"But I need to make sure he's alright!" Donatella demanded. Natasha sighed, shooting Steve a frustrated look.

"It's okay, Nat. I'll make sure they don't see each other. They'll just talk." he assured her. Natasha rolled her eyes before striding towards the corner of the room, adjusting the two bouquets that laid on the table.

"Five minutes. Then we're getting Tony down here to get ready for the march. If you're not back in five minutes I'm coming to find you, and I will _not_ be happy." Natasha was mean, and scary, but also loving and kind and hilarious. How could she and Donatella _not_ be friends?

"Be back in five." Steve nodded, holding his arm out for Don to hold onto, and he guided her from the room she'd been trapped in for the majority of the morning. "Here, I'm bringing you to this corner. Just wait here, I'll bring Bucky. And don't peek!" he warned her, pressing her so she was standing with her back to the wall, the bend of the hall to her left, and she was sufficiently blind to where Steve ran off to.

"Steve?" Don asked as she heard footsteps approaching.

"It's us. Don't look, Buck. Here, stand here." she heard the rustling of Steve and Bucky just around the corner, their shadows moving next to her feet. That was all she could see, just their shadows.

"Donnie?" Bucky's voice rasped, and she felt a slight sigh of relief escape her.

"I'm here." she stuck her hand out, feeling blindly for his hand.

"That was my ass." he remarked drily as she groped around.

"Hold my hand, idiot." she sneered, and she felt his fingers wrap around hers.

"Your skin is soft today." he noticed, and she felt his thumb stroke down the back of her hand. She held back a shiver as he continued the motion.

"Thanks." she replied softly, relaxing as she felt how near he was. It was the first time since they separated the night before that she felt so peaceful. "Is everything okay?" she asked. He was quiet for a moment.

"I don't deserve this." he whispered.

"Hey, what do you-?" he cut her off.

"I don't deserve to be treated like this. To be so loved, to have so much. I did such terrible things."

"You didn't do them." she argued, but his fingers tightened around hers and she stopped talking.

"Yes. I did. And those people that I hurt… they should be experiencing what I am right now. Not me. I should be in jail. I should be dead." he rasped. Her heart ached as he talked, and all she wanted to do was rush around the corner and wrap him up and tell him everything was okay.

"Buck. You may have done those things, but even just the fact that you feel _remorse_ makes you deserving of this. You deserve the fucking world, Bucky Barnes. The small part of it that I can give you will never be enough." she admitted. "But it's a start."

"As far as I'm concerned, you _are_ the world." he sighed.

"You say that now, but I'll bet as soon as they start sending people to Mars you'll be first in line." she joked.

"Only if you're right there with me." his voice was soft, and she squeezed his hand.

"I was thinking. When all this is settled down, when we get back to the real world for a few minutes…" she trailed off. "We start the Bucky Barnes scholarship."

"Scholarship?" he echoed.

"Yep. We use your name for good. We get people into their schools, help them out so that they can learn. So that they can do good things." she explained.

"I don't think that people want a scholarship in the name of the guy who assassinated JFK." he responded dryly.

"Okay, if we don't tell people that little detail they'll never know. And people love money."

"You can't use your money to buy me good public standing." he argued.

"I sure as hell can try." she replied.

"I won't let you waste it. You're going to go broke trying to fix my image." he sighed.

"Do you think I care?" she smiled. "I'd rather be dirt poor, living in the woods with you than be rich and all alone in my big boring house." she admitted.

"Donatella…" he breathed. "Am I worth all this?"

"You're worth a million more times than this." she responded. "No, a billion. Trillion." Don grinned. "Tomorrow marks the start of the rest of our lives. And I'm spending every minute of it proving to you that you're worth it."

"This sounds like a commercial." he sounded amused, and she laughed a little bit.

"Hate to break up the moment, but if we're not back in thirty seconds, Natasha is coming after us." Steve appeared around the corner, holding his arm out for Donatella to take once more, She grinned at him.

"See you in a few, wonderboy." she sighed to Bucky. She squeezed his hand before letting go, and her stomach curled in on itself as she took Steve's arm. She'd only have to leave his side for a few more minutes. Then he was hers for the rest of her life.

"A few minutes." he echoed, and then she was being herded down the hall.

"Feel better?" Steve asked.

"More nervous, actually." she admitted. He sighed, but gave her a small smile.

"It'll be over soon." he reassured her.

"That makes it sound like a threat." she laughed uncomfortably.

"You know what I mean." he smiled. "But a life with Bucky Barnes? I'd call you crazy."

"You've spent nearly your whole life with him. I think it's time for you to pass the torch." she teased. He let a small laugh escape him and he shook his head.

"Yeah. It might be about time for me to stop tethering him down. Let him free." he joked.

"You're not pulling him down or whatever." Donatella rolled her eyes. "You guys are good for each other. Best of friends, 'inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield'" she mimicked the museum's description of the pair.

"Yeah, well." Steve sighed as he stopped in front of the door that Natasha was most likely waiting behind. "Sometimes you have to push them out of the nest."

"Are you talking about you or Bucky here?" she quirked an eyebrow, and Steve gave her a sheepish smile.

"Maybe a mixture of both." he laughed. "I'll see you on the other side, okay?"

"What, don't want to face Nat's wrath?" Donatella joked.

"I'll leave that to you." he held his hands up sheepishly before he walked off, back towards the way that they had come.

"Jerk." she muttered, turning back towards the door. She pushed it open and went back inside, but Natasha didn't mention anything. All she did was quickly stuff her bouquet into her hands, and Don took a deep breath of the scent.

"There, now you're a bride." her friend beamed at her. Donatella gave a shaky smile back, squeezing the stems. "Everything okay?"

"I'm losing my mind a little bit, but I'll be just fine once this is all over." she sighed, brushing some of her hair out of her face.

"This is supposed to be the happiest day of your life." she reminded her.

"It is!" she reassured her. "I'm really, really happy that it's finally here. But I'm also so nervous, why the hell am I nervous?" Donatela exclaimed.

"It's normal to be nervous. Just don't go all runaway bride on us." Natasha smirked. "I don't know what Barnes would do if you did that."

"He'd probably run screaming after me." Donnie joked. There was a sharp knock on the door before it swung open.

"Oh dear, this is about to be more emotional than I thought." Tony blinked from the threshold. Nat yanked him inside so she could close the door, giving a soft smile to another of her closest friends.

"It's like giving a daughter away." Natasha joked.

"Is it?" Donatella asked, a smile appearing on her face.

"I…" Tony was never at a loss for words, so this was really something. He cleared his throat and rubbed his chin before speaking. "You look great." his voice lost its robust tone, instead having a tender inflection that pulled at her heartstrings. She bit her lip, smoothing out her dress with the hand that didn't hold her bouquet.

"I really do clean up nice, don't I?" she chuckled, glancing up at him. He had taken off his glasses, and she saw the weary look on his face melting away.

"I was prepared to give you one last chance to run out of here, cut off this wedding to Barnes." his voice was soft, the real affection shining through. "But looking at you now… I couldn't do that to him. It'd kill him." a small joke, but he was still so calm and serious that she didn't know how to reply.

"I think you're going to have to lose this fight here Tony. Those two were made for each other, it's almost disgusting how cute they are to each other." Natasha smiled.

"Okay, that's enough." Donatella fought back a smile.

"You really look beautiful." Tony added, holding his arm out. She ignored it, leaning in to give him a tight hug. He awkwardly placed his arms around her, patting her back gently.

"Thank you for doing this for me." she whispered into his ear.

"I couldn't imagine not wanting to walk you down the aisle." he smiled as she pulled away.

"Alright, shall we go? I think it's just about time to start the march." Natasha mentioned.

"I hate that it's called a march." Don groaned, taking Tony's arm with a grin.

"You and me both, kid." Tony shook his head. "Now, let's march." he tugged her out the door, and Natasha quickly followed, smoothing out her train and adjusting the veil as they walked.

"Stop nitpicking, you're making me nervous." Donatella sighed as Natasha circled around to her front to readjust Don's grip on her flowers.

"You're gonna thank me later." Nat shook her finger at her before smoothing her own hair, striding ahead of Tony and Don to meet up with the other two bridesmaids and get into the line, primping them up as she went.

"You sure you're ready for this?" Tony asked, and Don bit her lip with a smile.

"I think I've been ready for a while now." she admitted.

"What, no "we were born for each other" crap?" he questioned.

"There's no way that's possible." she rolled her eyes. "Nobody was born for anybody. We just got lucky enough to find each other."

"Was it luck? Or fate." he teased.

"Fate isn't real either." she reminded him.

"Ah, right, of course. You're a woman of science." Tony grinned at her.

"Wait." she held him back before he could tug her towards the rest of the group. Natasha shot them a look when she saw that they were still lagging behind, but didn't say anything. "I'm really glad that you're in my life, Tony. I never…"

"Okay, don't get all emotional on me." he joked, but his eyes looked a little bit watery.

"Let me finish. I've never had any sort of, like… father figure I guess you could say. It was just me and Janita my whole life. My real dad, well… sucked." she forced a laugh, but was already sniffling. She managed to hold back her tears, even though her voice was coming out a little bit weak. "And then I got you. You and Peter. It was like I got a whole new family, like a blessing. Meeting you guys… it made me realize that this was the right direction I should be going in with my life. People think I'm crazy, working for Stark industries instead of creating my own labs and branching off into medical, but I don't want to do that. I don't want to leave this family. You introduced me to so many people, places, things…"

"Hey. Don't worry about it. I'm as lucky to have gotten a… daughter like you are. But I'm way too young to be your father, don't get mistaken about that." he reminded her.

"I'll let you believe that." she smiled.

"Now what is _that_ supposed to mean?" he asked, shooting her a look, but she didn't have any time to respond before Natasha came up.

"We're starting in ten seconds so get your asses in line." the redhead snapped, causing Donatella to bite her lip.

"Yes ma'am." she laughed lightly, and she and Tony moved to the end of the small lineup. Natasha was walking with Steve, Wanda was walking with Sam, and Shuri was walking with Peter. The youngest pair shot her a thumbs up before they turned and made their way down first. Donatella couldn't see them after they disappeared through the doors, but her stomach began to curl up as her heartbeat quickened.

This was really it. It was really happening. What if she tripped down the aisle? What if she messed up her vows? There were a million tiny things that could go wrong. Bucky could run out, not that she believed he ever would, but there was a chance. Wanda and Sam walked out next, sort of an awkward pairing, but they were both important to Bucky and Donatella in their own ways. Even if Bucky refused to admit that he was friends with the Falcon, they hung out more times than not, worked together more than any other group, and even texted each other, which was a shock even to Donatella when she found out.

She sucked in another deep breath when Natasha and Steve walked out, Best Man and Maid of Honor respectively. Two people who had made a large difference in their lives, closest friends, favorite co-workers… the list of everything they had done for them was endless, and the two would forever be grateful for them being in their lives.

And next was Donatella and Tony. Her heart began to pound even faster than before, and she quickly smoothed the top of her hair, making sure that the veil laid flat. She didn't want to look like a fool when she walked down. She began to panic, should she call Natasha back to see if she was presentable? No, she had already walked down, that would be stupid.

"Hey, deep breaths okay? I'm with you every step of the way." Tony reminded her, patting the hand that was holding the inside of his arm. She took a deep breath, nodding at his words. He tugged her forwards, and they were off. They approached the door, and she kept reminding herself that everyone inside was a close friend, her _family_ was in there. She had nothing to be worried about. But she couldn't help it, she was freaking out on the inside, even though just a few minutes before she'd been fine. She was breathing in deeply, and she could her the god-awful bridal march that everyone had insisted on, the strings grating on her eardrums. Deep breaths, deep breaths… She felt herself begin to smile automatically, trying to not look insane or scared. Schooling her expression, she glanced over at Tony, who had an emotional glimmer in his eyes that pulled at her heartstrings. But, when she walked through the door, all of her worries fell away.

Because standing there at the end of the aisle was Bucky, waiting for her to come down. And as long as they ended up by each other's side, she had nothing to worry about.

**This chapter was cheesy, I know. But we're not at the end yet! A few more cheesy little shitty chapters to go before I can finally put this story to an end. I know you guys are annoyed with it at this point, but I wouldn't have it any other way. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: American Boy**

"Do you want another?" Bucky gestured to her empty glass that had once held a gross martini.

"Get me something with rum, please." she asked sleepily, burying her face in her arms. She was laying on a beach chair, the sun beaming onto her back as the wind tousled her hair.

"Anything for my wife." she could hear the smile in his voice, and she grinned, turning her head to the side so she could watch him walk away. He looked good. He looked happy. She loved to see him happy, and she wished things could stay like this forever. It was only their second day on their surprise honeymoon on some crazy deserted island that Tony owned, and he had practically forced them on the plane. They really hadn't planned to take any sort of honeymoon, but Donatella had to admit that she was glad they decided to go. So far they'd swam in the ocean, laid out on the beach with cocktails, and had sex. And a lot of it. Their happy little bubble had returned. They didn't discuss what they'd do when they got home, and they didn't think about any aliens or villains or terrorist attacks. Basically all she did was stare at his ass and take naps on the beach. It was pretty much her version of heaven.

The wedding itself was nothing short of perfect, Natasha had made sure of that. Of course, Donatella had cried during the ceremony. She couldn't help it, Bucky had said something entirely too beautiful under his breath that only she had understood and she knew then and there that he wasn't going anywhere. Her vows were short, meaningful, and quiet enough that only he and the people nearest to the front had heard them. She remembered writing them down on a napkin in Bucharest the morning after he'd proposed, and she had them memorized ever since.

"_You stumbled into my life and immediately everything had changed. You were all I could think about, all I cared about. I was so nervous that you would disappear, and I was hoping and praying that you'd stay. You did. And all of a sudden, I just wanted to know you, everything about you. It wasn't long before you felt like home to me. And even though there was a short time that we had separated, I made my way back home to you. You still give me butterflies. The good kind. And I've never been happier to know that everything has changed." _

She had managed to get through hers without crying, even though she saw Peter bawling his eyes out behind Bucky. But when her then-fiance had cleared his throat and his eyes softened, her eyes began to fill. He'd spoken Italian lowly, but clearly, and she'd practically memorized his words to her.

"_When I was without you, it was like nothingness. Cold, empty. Meaningless. And then, I found you. I found something worth living for. The one thing that I touched that didn't get destroyed. You loved me, arm and all. Even when we were apart, even when you hated me, when I hurt you, you still loved me the most. The most out of anyone I've ever known. When I'm at my lowest place, when I can't escape my own head, you're right there waiting for me, giving me so much love that I can feel you through my worst nightmares. I've let you down, I've left you behind, and I don't know why you still believe in me. You heal me, even though I hurt you. I just want to be better for you. You make me want to be better." _

Donatella was nearly tearing up at the memory. She loved that man, and he made her swoon without even trying. He was beautiful, inside and out, and she couldn't get enough of him. Fucking cheesy little bastard.

"Thank you." she grinned as he brought back her drink, taking a sip before setting it down in the sand.

"Of course, Mrs. Barnes." he replied smoothly, sitting in his chair and leaning back, sighing in the warm sunlight.

"Are you ever gonna stop calling me that?" Donatella laughed.

"Nope." he smirked, his eyes closed as the sun beamed down on his face. She smiled back, pressing her cheek further into her arms as she looked at him. His skin had darkened slightly from the sun, chest glistening slightly from sweat. It was unfair how he could be sweaty and tired and still look like a god. Was that even allowed? "Stop staring." he said, his eyes still closed.

"I'm not." she mumbled, burying her face in her arms. Her sunglasses pressed uncomfortably into her elbows, so she quickly pushed them to the top of her head.

"You were." he replied, and she could hear the smile in his voice. It was crazy how well she knew him, that she could tell how he was feeling and what expression he wore by the tone in his voice.

"Yeah, I was." she admitted, smiling as she still faced down.

"See? I knew it." Bucky sounded smug, and she turned her face so she could squint at him.

"I couldn't help it. You look good." she whined. He chuckled, opening his eyes finally, and looked over at her, eyes roving up and down her figure. She felt her mouth dry at the expression on his face, and she quickly took a gulp of her drink.

"So do you." his eyes flickered up to hers, and her heart began to race. God, it had been such a long time since they met, and he still could make her so giddy.

"Do you want to-"

"Let's go back to-" they both began speaking at the same time, and he tilted his head back in laughter. Her heart warmed at the noise, his brilliant white teeth, the way he exposed his neck, the crinkles around his eyes… God, he looked so happy, so relaxed, it was astonishing.

"Okay we're going back to the beach house." she smiled, standing and holding out her hand for him to grab. He stopped laughing, but the grin stayed on his face, and he gripped her fingers tightly as he stood up.

"We think perfectly alike." he mentioned as she leaned down to grab her cup of mystery drink.

"We don't think anything alike." she snorted, taking a sip from her glass. He frowned, glancing down at her as they began to walk towards the pretty beach house that Tony also owned.

"Yes we do." he argued.

"We agree on the stuff that matters, angel." Donatella sighed.

"Like what?" he asked. The walk was short, and they made it to the front steps of the house within a minute.

"Like how I wanna screw you as soon as we get inside." she replied casually, and she heard his choked laughter while she twisted open the knob. Donatella let out a small squeal as he wrapped his arms around her waist, hefting her up and over her shoulder, her plastic glass flying out of her hand and clattering to the floor, spilling her drink all over the entryway. "Buck! We have to clean that up!" she laughed as he strode away and towards the bedroom.

"Later. We only agree on the important things, remember? And that's not important." he sounded smug, smacking his hand against her butt as he moved. She retaliated by swinging and trying to slap his, but she aimed too low and hit the back of his thigh instead. "Missed me." he taunted, but before she could try again his hands gripped her hips and slipped her off his shoulder, flipping her so she was lying face-up on the bed.

"Jerk." she teased him as he crawled over her, his large, warm hands already smoothing their way up her sides. Her breath hitched as his fingers danced over her bare skin. She was only wearing a two-piece swimsuit, so there was little to no barrier between them. His swim trunks were already riding low on his hips, revealing a peek of a tan line that her tongue was begging to trace.

"You love it." he replied, his mouth moving down to press kisses to her sternum, dipping lower as his kisses became less teasing and more desperate. Her hand traced up his back and to the hair at the nape of his neck, pressing his lips closer to her skin, his touch heating her flesh and making her breaths come more rapidly.

"Don't stop, okay?" she whispered as he used his chin to push the fabric of her bikini top to the side.

"Wouldn't dream of it." he retorted, teeth scraping over the sensitive skin on her breast. His breath was pleasantly warm, and she felt her nipples tighten in anticipation.

"Good." she breathed out, arching her back to get closer to his touch. His lips sucked and nibbled, moving away from the sensitive area far too quickly for her liking. But she forgave him as he pressed his lips against hers in a needy kiss that she was far too happy to return. Her fingertips raked down his back, moving up and down and scratching patterns out that made him groan, his muscles rippling in response to her touch. She slid her fingers over his sides and he jerked, smiling against her lips.

"That tickled." he mumbled into her lips, and she laughed a bit, making a mental note to avoid that area for now. His palms settled over her breasts, moving the cups of her top down to let her bare skin press against his. Nimble fingers travelled downwards, slipping under the waistband of her swimsuit bottoms. He groaned, fingers swiping through her slick, and he pressed his finger gently inside her. She let out a soft gasp, arching her back once more and pushing her hips closer to his hand, begging for more friction. He obliged, dragging his index finger down the inside of her walls as he pulled it out, pushing it back in before repeating the action.

"Holy _shit_." she breathed, fingers clenching against his back in time with his slow movements. "Bucky, go faster." she practically begged, and he sped up his movements, adding a second finger before slowing again, stretching her as he pulled his fingers out. She took the initiative to tug at the waistband of his swim trunks, pushing them down over his hips to let his erection spring free. He brought his hand, still wet from being inside her, and coated himself before moving to line himself up with her.

"I really love you." he murmured in her ear, and she let out a sigh, her hands splaying over his shoulders and squeezing him.

"I love you too. The most." she smiled at him, and he smirked back. She began to kiss and mouth at his neck, and he groaned before hanging his head.

"I have a confession to make." he said, and she paused.

"What is it?" her stomach twisted, and she wasn't sure what to think. He lifted his head, his eyes sparkling. He sounded so serious, but he looked excited. What was going on?

"Before we left, I had some of the doctors from the Stark lab give me a test. They called me with the results this morning." he admitted, still laying thick and heavy between her legs. Her thighs clenched around his hips, and she felt worried. Did he mean…?

"What test?" she didn't dare to sound hopeful, to even wish for anything. She didn't want to be disappointed, she could never be disappointed in him. She refused to let herself want something that might not even be possible.

"I'm not sterile." he admitted, and she felt herself suck in a huge breath of air and hold it. She was staring at him, trying to process the words, making sure he had said _not_.

"Holy fuck." she finally breathed out, and he began to smile, his face glowing and his eyes shining. "Holy fucking shit. Bucky, we can have a baby."

"I know." he replied softly, leaning down to press his lips tenderly against hers. "We can keep trying."

"Why did you get a test without telling me?" she scrambled into a seated position, and he groaned in frustration.

"I didn't want you to get your hopes up in case it didn't turn out to be the result we wanted." he admitted. She sighed, pushing her hair out of her face.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me. Jesus, Bucky, you kept this from me?" she asked, raking her hand down her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he cooed, his metal fingertips tracing down her cheek.

"I don't want you to start keeping secrets from me. I don't want that for us." she replied hotly. Donatella was upset that Bucky would keep something so big from her. Sure, he was doing it for a good reason, but she hated secrets. It made her paranoid enough that she wasn't allowed to know so much about what he did at work, and now things about their relationship? She couldn't handle that kind of stress.

"I promise that's the only thing." he reassured her, and she bit her lip, looking at his genuine expression.

"Never do something like that again, okay?" she asked, her words softer than she'd meant them to be, wavering with uncertainty.

"I wouldn't dream of it." he replied smoothly, leaning down to kiss her again. "Fuck, I love you too much to want to."

"Shit, Buck." she grinned as he began to press feather-light kisses along her jawline and down the column of her neck. "We can have our own baby. I want to have a little boy just like you." he paused.

"Just like me, huh?" she felt him smile into her skin.

"I couldn't dream of anything better." she admitted. He lifted his head.

"Just like me." he glanced down at himself before looking at her again, a soft, dopey smile over his features. "That's sweet. But, small problem." he kissed her cheek.

"What's that?" she was getting distracted again from the way he kept kissing her.

"I want a girl. A little _principessa_." he nipped at her neck, and she arched into his lips. "And I want her to be just like you."

"Buck, we don't have to argue about this." she was tired of talking, she just wanted to get to the main event already. "We can have more than one."

"You're really thinking, aren't you?" he mused, his hot, wet tongue tracing further down, dipping past her collarbone to latch around one nipple. "I think we should get started right away, then."

"You read my mind." she groaned, grinding against the thigh that he had used to part her legs. She crossed her fingers, hoping that all of their practice would pay off in the long run. Because the thought of raising cute little baby Barnes' caused her heart to soar, and that was all that she wanted. That perfect little family, with him. Because he was it for her.

…

"Are you done yet?" a knock on the bathroom door. Donatella stifled a groan, pulling her pants up and flushing the toilet, feeling weirded out that Bucky was listening to her pee on the other side of the door.

"Yes!" she called back, and as she washed her hands the door flew open, causing her to jump. She turned and shot him a glare as he rushed inside, picking up the white plastic stick and peering down at it. "Would you put that thing down? I just peed on it." she swatted his hand. He avoided her hand, squinting at the pregnancy test.

"How does this work again?" he gestured to the test. "How does it know?"

"Um." she was still wiping her hands on the towel. "I don't know, I've never thought about it." he shot her an annoyed look, picking up the box.

"People in this century just take all this technology for granted. You never wanted to know how these worked and you've had them this whole time?" he waved it around, and she flinched.

"Buck, I just _peed_ on that, stop swinging it everywhere." she whined, hopping up to sit on the counter. He leaned next to her, his hip pressing against the outside of her thigh.

"It's just pee. I don't care." he shrugged. She sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder. She had been glad to share her excitement with him before this moment, but now she kind of regretted it. She should have taken the test before telling him she thought she might be pregnant. Who was she kidding? There was no way she could have hidden all the puking and crying from him. It had been weeks since it had begun, and after she was over two weeks late for her period she had to say _something_ to him. She swore if she wasn't pregnant then she just might be insane, because there was no way any normal human being could puke and cry that much.

"Don't get your hopes up, okay?" she bit her lip, glancing down at the stick that he was watching so intently.

"I'm not." he mumbled, pulling it out of her reach as he continued to examine the box. "Plus sign means positive, minus sign means negative." he murmured, pressing a kiss to her head before stepping away from the countertop to toss the box in the garbage.

"You're definitely getting your hopes up." she sighed, leaning back on her palms to watch him pace the small bathroom.

"I'm not!" Bucky protested, fanning the stick through the air.

"What are you doing?" she sighed, feeling exasperated at his antics.

"This will make it go faster." he argued.

"It's not a freaking polaroid!" Donatella laughed. He gave her that look again, and she quickly quieted. "That's not going to do anything." she mumbled.

"Let me do what I need to do, okay? You just sit there and look pretty and keep that baby safe." he stepped closer to kiss the top of her head, then he pinched her nose.

"What the fuck was that?" she gaped. He merely shrugged, dancing away with a smirk when she swatted at him. Bucky looked down at the stick, halting his movements and gripping it tightly with both hands.

"It's done." he said softly, peering down. She felt her stomach plummet down to her toes. What kind of reaction was that? It was negative. Right? Why wasn't he saying anything? Oh, god, he was so disappointed… she should never have told him…

"Bucky, I'm sorry." she bit her lip, glancing down at her feet. What would they do now? Keep trying? Or mourn what could have been?

"You're pregnant." he looked up at her, eyes wide with shock and… something else, something she hadn't seen on his face in a long time. "We're going to have a baby." it was excitement, she could hear it in his voice, she could see it on his face. "Holy shit." she felt numb as he dropped the stick on the floor, she heard it clatter as he crossed the small space to grab her face with both his hands, one warm flesh and the other cold metal pressing against her cheeks as he wrenched her upwards to kiss her.

"It's positive?" she pulled her head back to ask, and he nodded quickly. "Oh my god, Bucky." her eyes began to fill with tears. "A _baby_." he pulled her back to his lips, and she could feel his soft smile on her mouth, the warmth coursing through her veins. They really did it. She was pregnant, and now they were going to have a baby. A real live baby.

"We have to tell everyone, we-we, Steve and Sam and…"

"You want to tell Steve and Sam first?" she blinked. He opened his mouth and closed it.

"Who else would we tell first?" he asked, and she tugged on a lock of his hair, one of the longer pieces around his temple.

"Tony? Peter?" she spoke slowly, trying to get her point across. He blinked blankly at her.

"Why would we tell them first?" she softly slapped his shoulder. "No, I'm serious, Steve is like my brother, and Sam… well I gotta rub it in that I'm having a baby first."

"We aren't telling Sam first just so you can gloat." Donatella deadpanned. He gave her a sheepish grin, leaning forward to rest his forehead on her shoulder. She felt him place a soft kiss against her collarbone, and the ticklish feeling of him speaking against her skin.

"Compromise. We'll tell Natasha first, and then she can help us tell everyone else." he chuckled. She shivered at the feeling of his breath ghosting over her skin.

"I guess that could work." she sighed. He paused, pulling back a bit.

"If we could have, we would have told Janita fi-"

"I know." she cut him off, placing her hand flat against his chest. His eyes softened, and her voice cracked. "I know."

"Donatella… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up, especially not at a time like this." he murmured, kissing her temple.

"It's fine, Buck." she bit her lip as he cradled the side of her head.

"We can still tell her." he whispered, glancing upwards. She let out a breath, looking up with him.

"Then let's tell her." she smiled. He grinned back, and they whispered upwards to her foster mother. Her heart ached. She wished that Janita could have been here to hear the news. God, it would have been something that she would be so incredibly proud of. She wished that their child could have met her mother. There were a thousand things that she wished were different, but when Bucky placed a firm, solid palm on her still-flat belly, she felt herself relax. She didn't need anything to change. It hurt to not have Janita, but she was gaining a new person. It wouldn't be a replacement, god, nobody could ever replace her, but she felt like this was the perfect opportunity for moving forward. She didn't want to dwell in the past any more. She was excited to think about her future, with Bucky. With her husband, the father of her child… it was so overwhelming and yet she couldn't wait to be able to hold their baby in her arms.

Would it be a baby boy? Or a girl? Would it matter? She thought for a moment. No, she'd love it either way. No matter what they were like, because if they held any part of Bucky in their DNA then she wouldn't be able to help it.

"So you really think we should tell people right away?" Donatella asked the next morning as they got ready to go to the compound. He paused, he'd been brushing his teeth, and he glanced at her.

"Why wouldn't we?" he mumbled around his toothbrush.

"Well, I mean…" she hesitated, not wanting to bring this up to him if he wasn't already aware. "It's really early. There's so many things that could go wrong, I could… lose the baby." she finished quietly. He slowly put the toothbrush down, staring down into the sink.

"You could?" he whispered.

"If something goes wrong, I don't… this is the first time I've been pregnant, I don't know how my body is going to handle this." she sighed, raking her hand through her hair, groaning when it got tangled.

"We won't. Lose it, I mean." she smiled when he said "we" but she couldn't promise him that everything would turn out okay.

"I hope not." she agreed.

"But I think it's a good idea to maybe keep it to ourselves. Just for a bit." he nodded to her, rinsing the toothbrush and putting it away.

"Okay. A few months?" Donatella bit her lip, and he turned to frown at her.

"More than one month?" he looked upset. She placed a hand on his arm, squeezing and trying not to get distracted by the feel of his muscle under her hand.

"Maybe a month and a few weeks. Just until we're really safe." she placated him. He gave a slow nod, turning to sigh into the mirror.

"All these years, and we still haven't come far enough to get away from these things." he mentioned softly.

"We've come further." she smiled. "But nothing can be perfect. Everything has its risks." Don reminded him.

"Well. You're perfect." he smiled at her. She let out a bark of laughter, shaking her head.

"You say that now, but wait until I do something that annoys you." she teased.

"Impossible." he scoffed.

"Okay, keep it in your pants wonderboy, we've got places to be." she smiled.

They met their first obstacle two days later. Tony was having a small get-together at the tower, just with all of their close friends. He wanted everyone to celebrate the launch of their new tech, based on his nanotech that would help paramedics during on-site emergency procedures. He was extremely proud if it, since it was technically their first joint project that they'd both headed. Tony had brought in all of his friends, most specifically his new doctor friend named Dr. Strange. Donatella was unimpressed and weirded out by the man's name, who would trust a doctor that was named "Strange"? Not her.

"Doctor Belucci, wonderful to finally meet you. Tony has nothing but praises to sing about you." he grabbed her hand and shook it, but his smile immediately froze on his face.

"You as well. And, it's Dr. Barnes now." she tried to be perfectly polite, but she could tell that even Bucky was uncomfortable around the man. She felt like his smile held secrets, like "I know something I shouldn't" sort of secrets. Maybe he could tell that she had a bun in the oven. But how? She was barely two months along, and wouldn't even begin to show for weeks.

"Here Don, saved you a glass." the doctor's eyes widened as Natasha flourished a hefty cup of wine in front of Donatella. Strange shot a knowing glance back at Don and Bucky, and Buck quickly put a hand over the top of the cup.

"We… aren't drinking tonight, sorry." Bucky excused her. Natasha's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"_Both _of you?" she looked between the pair, and Strange looked… strangely amused. Don glared at him, silently telling him to keep his lips zipped with her eyes. She almost screamed when he made a zipping motion over his mouth. How did he _do _that?

"We, uh. Well, I don't want Bucky drinking, so I'm not either." Donatella tried to place the blame on him, hoping to keep Natasha's brain from clicking it together.

"Why can't Bucky drink?" Natasha's brow furrowed as she pursed her ruby red lips.

"The last few times we've been drinking we've had problems with…" Donatella paused before lowering her voice dramatically. "_Whiskey dick_." she said lowly to Natasha. The redhead's eyes widened, then narrowed again.

"Uh huh." she smirked. "You're saying the _soldat_ gets whiskey dick?" Don bit her lip before nodding weakly.

"Yup." she popped the "p" as she said it, and Bucky shot her an irritated look.

"Yeah, go ahead, tell everyone I can't get it up when I've been drinking." he muttered, his bright eyes rolling as he turned away.

"Don't worry… I won't tell." Natasha winked, and Donatella's stomach dropped when she realized the woman knew. The redhead pulled the wine away and sashayed off, over to Steve's side with a smile. He greeted her by wrapping an arm around her waist, and Donnie's jaw almost dropped. Don wanted to grill her friend about what was going on between the two, but didn't want to prompt Natasha to start asking questions about you-know-what.

So that was two people that knew.

The next person to find out was a surprise to Bucky and Donatella alike, as it was another one that they hadn't really been close with.

"Good morning, Dr. Belucci." the demigod was loud in the morning as he waltzed into her lab. He was also holding a bag of something that smelled _heavenly_.

"Ah, Thor, what brings you to my little neck of the woods?" she greeted, putting down her pencil.

"Bucky and Steve were asked to go and help with a hostage situation in France. He left about an hour ago and was worried that you'd forget to eat, so I volunteered to make sure you got sustenance." the blonde smiled, holding out the bag.

"What is it?" she excitedly grabbed the bag from him, murmuring a thank you as she opened the top.

"Bucky was very specific about what to get you. It's some sort of noodle dish with pickles in it, as well as… peanut butter." he frowned as she pulled it out of the bag, and she began to excitedly dig in. "Pregnant women on Midgard eat the strangest things." he commented casually, and she almost choked on her food.

"H-how did you-" she coughed, pounding on her chest to clear her throat.

"Oh, it is easy to tell." he waved her concern away. "Don't worry, I've realized that it is not something you are announcing at this point in time. I haven't told." he reassured her.

"Oh… thank you." Donatella croaked out. He beamed at her, wrapping her in a quick hug.

"I'm so glad that you and the Winter Soldier have decided to start a family. It's been centuries since I've had a friend with young children." he boomed before releasing her and stalking off. She was appalled at the amount of people that had been able to see through her so far.

The next one to find out wasn't so surprising.

"Okay, there's no way you got the queen of spades _every freaking time_. You're worse than Aunt May." Peter had groaned as Don danced in her seat, winning their game of rummy for the third time in a row. "I couldn't catch up!" he complained, moving to shuffle the cards before sticking them back in the box.

Bucky was out on a mission, albeit he wasn't happy about leaving Don behind for three whole days. She appeased him by having Peter over during the last two nights, school had begun over a month ago but they had a teacher's workday and a long weekend.

"Well, we can't all be winners." she teased, and he stuck out his tongue at her before standing up.

"Do you want some raviolis? I brought some." he held up his backpack, but she bit her lip and shook her head, feeling queasy at the thought of the canned food.

"No, that's alright." she smiled weakly. He glanced over her, but shrugged, letting it go as he moved to the stove. God, she wished they hadn't played at the kitchen island, then she wouldn't have to smell _that_ smell as he opened the can. The cold, congealed meat and sauce… oh god she felt acid burning in the back of her throat. She slapped her hand over her mouth and sprinted towards the bathroom, barely making it before emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet. She cringed as she heard Peter rush up behind her, his cold hand on the back of her neck and holding her hair back.

"Holy shit! I knew it!" he cheered, and she turned weakly to look over at him as he grinned.

"Don't swear." she mumbled, using a strip of toilet paper to wipe her mouth after she spit into the toilet. "Knew what?"

"I could totally tell! This spidey sense, man, I thought I was just going crazy, but you're actually pregnant!"

"I-I'm not-" she tried to deny it, but the shit-eating grin on his face revealed that he wouldn't buy it. "Stupid spidey sense. We aren't supposed to tell anyone and so many people figured it out!" she wailed, lurching upwards to rinse her mouth in the sink.

"Don't worry, I won't tell a soul. Mr. Stark must be so excited, how hasn't he blabbed yet?" Peter asked, and she hung her head. "Oh no. Ooohhh no. He's gonna kill me. I can't know before him! Donnie, you have to tell him!" he pleaded.

"No, Bucky and I promised not to tell anyone! But I keep screwing up and people keep finding out!" Don sniffled, wiping her teary eyes.

"Well, who all knows?" Peter hopped up to sit on the counter.

"Dr. Strange. Nat, I think. Thor. You." she replied.

"Captain Rogers doesn't know yet? Dude, he's gonna be…" Peter rethought his response as tears began to leak down her face. "He's gonna be so stoked to finally know! He'll understand why you guys were waiting. Wait, why were you waiting to tell?" he asked. She felt panic and confusion and frustration all bubbling up in her chest, and she felt so useless and stupid at the same time she could barely contain her reaction to his question.

"Be-because I w-was scared that so-something bad would happen!" Donatella burst into tears, speaking through her sobs as she swiped at the salty tears that fell down her cheeks. "P-please don't t-tell!" she wailed. "I d-don't know what I'll d-do if I lose it!" she was absolutely terrified. She lived in a world of alien invasions and strange powerful people, and she was losing her shit over being pregnant? Definitely not cool.

"Hey, hey don't cry, okay? I won't tell. Pinky promise." Peter smiled, gesturing for them to link their little fingers. She gripped his tightly and nodded, sniffling and trying to stop crying. These goddamn _hormones_ would be the death of her over any other part of the pregnancy.

She and Peter quietly talked out her frustrations and fears. The carefree kid was good for her. He definitely knew what to say to each of her worries. Peter reassured her no one would resent her for keeping such a huge part of her life secret.

A few weeks later she was finally ready. Creeping up on three months, she and Bucky had decided to get everyone together for dinner and announce it then. Everyone who already knew was sworn to secrecy, and she finally had everything planned out perfectly. It was going to happen the next night, and then the stress of hiding it would be over. Don felt the anxiety melting away as the hours ticked by, she was that much closer to finally being done with the sneaking around. She'd just locked the door of her lab behind her as she heard a commotion coming from down the hall.

"It's finally happening!" Tony was shouting and whooping as he approached her. This was honestly the fastest she'd seen him move.

"What's happening?" she frowned, but began to smile at the look of excitement on his face.

"It's happening! There's gonna be a beautiful baby in our lives soon! Oh, I can't wait to spoil the little brat, I just want to hold them right now." her smile froze on her face, her eyes filling with tears.

"Oh, who told you?" she felt her face crumple.

"P-Pepper? Donatella, what's wrong, I thought you'd be excited." he frowned, his hands resting on her shoulders.

"Who told P-Pepper? It was supposed to be a surprise, we were going to tell you tomorrow!" she sniffled, wiping her cheeks. Tony froze, taking a step backwards.

"Why were you going to tell me? I came to tell y…" he stopped speaking. "Came to tell you Pepper and I are expecting." he finished flatly.

"W-what?" she froze, and the two looked at each other, completely shocked. Neither spoke, not until someone else began to approach.

"Tony, I just heard the news, congrats to you and Pepper…" Steve clapped his hand on Tony's shoulder, but looked between the ashen pair. "What's wrong? Is everything okay?" he asked, looking worried.

"DONATELLA IS PREGNANT." Tony practically bleated he said the words so fast and sharp, she could barely understand.

"_What_!" apparently Steve understood. He looked between them again, back and forth, a mixture of a happy grin and confused frown alternating over his features. "_What?"_ he repeated.

"Pepper and Donnie are pregnant. At the same time. Oh my god, I'm becoming a grandfather and a father at the same time. Is this normal? Steve, is this normal?!" Tony babbled, beginning to pace, and Steve just stood there a moment longer, apparently unable to process what his friend had just said. Don didn't know how to reply, so she just stood there, face getting paler by the minute.

"You…" Steve pointed at her, before glancing over at Tony. "And… Pepper…" he opened and closed his mouth as he processed the information.

"Yes, capsicle, can you read my lips? Or did going in the ice give you brainfreeze!" Tony snapped, raking his hands through his hair.

"Both pregnant." Steve finished, looking back at Donatella. "Oh my God. _Bucky is having a baby_." he'd finally completed his thought. It seemed like Steve and Tony were sharing only a small amount of brain cells that day. "Baby Barnes."

"Your guys' reactions aren't exactly what I expected…" she finally found her words again. "Why are you so… upset?" she bit her lip.

"Upset?" they both spoke at the same time, glancing at each other before Tony cut Steve off.

"I am not even close to being upset. This is my happy face. See? Happy!" he practically roared in her face, a panicked expression on his features. Steve, to his credit, grabbed Tony's shoulder and yanked him backwards.

"Stark, you're freaking out. Do you need to sit down?" Steve asked calmly.

"Freaking out? You're freaking out! My little Donnie… pregnant… a baby…" Tony babbled, raking his hand down his face and pushing his glasses askew. "There's no way, am I being punk'd? Where's that Kutcher kid?" he glanced around.

"Tony! Donnie and Bucky are having a baby, aren't you excited?" Tony froze as Steve said the words, and all of a sudden the closest thing she'd had to a father figure stepped closer to her, staring her straight in the eyes. She didn't dare to blink, her stomach dropping. He wasn't happy, he was so upset with her… she held her breath, scared of what he might say.

But he didn't say anything, he just wrapped his arms around her tightly as his shoulders shook with quiet sobs.

"Tony…" she sniffled, feeling the tears coming on again.

"You're having a baby." she could finally hear a positive emotion in his voice, and she buried her face into his shoulder, and she felt him press a quick kiss to the side of her head, and tension that she wasn't even aware was building in her spine released and she felt so _relieved_.

"_You're _having a baby." she replied, and she heard him laugh and pull away.

"Oh my god, I can't wait to go baby shopping together." he wiped the last few tears on his face away, and turned to smile at Steve.

"Am I invited to these shopping sprees?" Steve teased, and both Don and Tony nodded vigorously. Somehow Cap had been the only one to keep a cool head in this situation. Ironic.

"Thank you for not freaking out." Donatella beamed at her husband's best friend, stepping forward to squeeze him in a tight hug. "Oh, please don't tell anyone… we were going to tell you all at dinner tomorrow." Don frowned, worried about how the rest of the people were going to take it.

"My lips are sealed." Tony pretended to turn a key in front of his mouth. "Anyone else know?"

"Uhh, well, Peter-"

"_You told the kid before you told me_?!"

**So close to the ending you guys. This story has really been a journey for me. It may be the longest and most drawn out BS I've ever written in my life, but at least I'm happy with how it's happened. Just one chapter left.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: listen before i go**

"Are you nervous?" Pepper smiled at Don as they sat in a weird new-age birthing class. It was the first they were attending, and Bucky and Tony were arguing about proper breathing techniques already. As if they knew.

"It's nice to be going through this kind of stuff with someone I already know. It's at least new to both of us so we can learn together." Don shot a glare at the two men who were supposed to be paying attention to the... was she a yogi? Some weird birthing lady that was coaching them from the front of the room. "Apparently they won't be much help." she rolled her eyes, and Pepper let out a peal of laughter.

"You've got that right." Pepper winced as Tony flicked Bucky's forehead, and the murderous glare Don's husband was sending him was actually making her nervous.

"Oh for god's sake." Pepper mumbled at their fresh wave of bickering. Tony and Bucky just couldn't seem to get along. Their rocky past had been forgiven and forgotten, but Tony had a hard time letting people in. And the fact that Bucky and Donnie were together was not making things any easier.

"Well, if aliens ever invade again, I know who to call, but in situations like this…" Donnie trailed off as they began to bicker.

"Useless." Pepper rolled her eyes.

"You're telling me." Don smiled.

"I think they just don't know how to handle this type of thing." Pepper sighed, glancing back towards them again.

"Well, they're used to being the ones calling the shots and solving problems. It's probably like some form of culture shock that it's all up to us now." Don rolled her eyes, causing Pepper to laugh. Donatella knew she was right when she said that. Bucky had been equally nervous and excited through the short months of her pregnancy. Overall, though, he was happy. Happier than she'd ever seen him before. It was good, it felt so good to have him like this. The nightmares came less and less. He rarely fell into his depressive episodes anymore. He was… moving forward. Coming into his own.

And Donatella was so, so proud of him. She could never fully articulate to him how much she cared, how much she lived through his triumphs. She was so damn excited for him. But a part of her was scared. Scared that if something would happen, he'd get worse. Don wouldn't know what to do in that situation. If he could even make it through something like that… she wasn't sure that he could.

She knew he would try. But a man who had lost everything? Losing something so, so important to him? It would ruin his progress. Break him. And that scared her. What would she do without him? She snuck another glance back towards him, feeling uneasy. She never wanted to be one of those women who didn't have a life outside her relationship, but with Bucky… it didn't feel like that. He was first and foremost her friend before husband, looking out for her without thinking of himself first. And vice-versa. Since the time where they'd been separated due to their awful management of their relationship they made it a point to communicate and keep their relationship healthy. Fights dwindled without losing any of the passion and comfort they took from each other.

Donatella wondered how other people felt in her position. Were there people in the same gray area that she was in? She should be happy, for everything that was going so well in her life. But she couldn't stop worrying about him. She had to keep reminding herself that stress was bad, especially in her state, but she couldn't help it. She was scared of living in a world without him. Don kept thinking about if he could make it through a loss like that, hoping he could, even though she _knew_ that she couldn't. She'd been so broken up the first time she thought she'd lost him, and since then they'd grown even more dependent upon him. If it ever happened again, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. She'd probably turn to ash. Don snuck one more glance at Bucky, but this time he caught her, the pinched, irritated look on his face melting into a soft, sweet smile. She felt a rush of relief. It didn't matter how nervous she was about the future. Because she had the whole world on her side right now. Her nervous, rambling thoughts could suck it.

"You've gone soft on me. Remember when you were badass?" Donatella teased as Bucky pulled the popcorn out of the microwave. It was a brisk fall evening, rain had been chilling New York for days now. It ran in rivulets down the windows, thunder barely rumbling in the distance. It was so painfully peaceful Don wanted to scream. The second trimester had begun, and her hormones were making everything annoying to her. Well, everything except for Bucky.

"I'm still badass." he defended himself, shooting her a look. Don rolled her eyes with a laugh.

"Buck, I love you, but you're making popcorn and hot chocolate. And we're watching _27 Dresses_." she smirked. He huffed, setting the bowl of popcorn down in front of her and taking a sip of his cocoa.

"It's fall." he argued. "You need movies and hot chocolate in the fall."

"I've changed you, Buck. It's my fault. I'm not sorry." Donatella pretended to sigh woefully, and he pinched her toe. "Ow!" she retaliated by poking him in the side with her foot, and he squirmed and grabbed her ankle in his metal grasp, pushing her foot down and settling it into his lap, holding it firmly in place.

"Knock it off, I'm missing the beginning." he scolded her as he focused on the movie. She smiled, leaning back into the pillow and setting her other foot on his lap. His cold fingers absentmindedly traced up and down her calves, and she tried not to laugh at the ticklish feeling. She finally relaxed, lolling her head towards the TV to watch a movie she'd seen about a million times already. But it was Bucky's first time seeing it, so she'd be quiet for him. About halfway through she realized he wasn't even looking at the screen anymore, he was staring straight at her.

"What?" she frowned at him, he had a weird smile on his face.

"Nothing." his white teeth flashed behind those curved lips, and she felt her heart skip a beat. His eyes roamed down her face to her belly and back up again, glimmering the whole time with that dumbass look on his face.

"No seriously, what? Do I have whipped cream on my nose?" she wiped at her face, coming up empty.

"I just want to look at you." he shrugged, the smile never leaving.

"You're too happy, it's weirding me out. Watch the movie, you're missing the best parts!" she complained.

"I know how it ends." he shrugged, looking nonchalant. Which was very weird for him, he was never this relaxed, never this happy. Something must have happened.

"How do you know?" she scoffed. "I didn't tell you, and I know that I'm the only sap you know that watches these types of movies." she quirked an eyebrow as she thought. "Maybe except for Sam." his smile widened a little when she said that, and she groaned at his silence, leaning back and glaring at the ceiling.

"These all end the same. There's some making out in the rain, they separate or get mad or whatever and then the guy chases after her and they make up." he was still trailing his fingers on her legs, metal fingertips smooth against her skin. She shivered at the intensity of his gaze, the lazy smile that plumped his lips. "I think we've lived the story already, don't you think?"

"Well, I don't remember ever having a… a kissing in the rain moment." she teased him. He glanced towards the window before turning back to her with a smile.

"You want one?" he pointed out to their balcony, and she shrugged, but couldn't stop the smile from creeping over her face. Was he really going to bring her outside to kiss her in the rain?

"It's gonna be cold." she warned him as he stood, but she got up after him. She had a swell in her stomach now, and his hands immediately went to it, palms splayed flat over the bump. He was _convinced_ he could feel a kick, even though she hadn't felt anything yet and she was only in her 19th week. She knew it would happen closer to her third trimester, but he didn't want to give up on his dreams of feeling his baby. He was also convinced they were having a girl, but she didn't want to know the gender. Even though she was pretty confident that it was a boy. Buck didn't believe in her mother's intuition, though. (She even secretly hoped it was a boy just so he wouldn't be right.)

"Come on, when have you ever cared about the cold?" he smirked, tugging her closer to him. Her breath hitched again as one hand slid around to her back, his palm slowly coming up her spine.

"I thought we were supposed to be kissing in the rain." she whispered as he lowered his head towards hers.

"This is just the previews." he smiled, lips softly pressing against hers. She gripped his shirt as he started pulling away, using him for balance.

"You're such a fucking _tease_." she groaned as he stepped backwards, walking her to the balcony door.

"You love it." he smirked, pushing open the glass door. She shivered as soon as the rain began to spray her, her hair almost instantly getting soaked. Jesus, it was a _downpour_ out here! Why did he want to do something so dumb? They couldn't have just taken a shower together like normal people?

"Buck, it's fucking freezing." her teeth chattered.

"Five minutes." he stepped closer to her, and she became distracted. The water streamed down him, wet his eyelashes, darkened the blue of his irises, and she saw rain dripping down his jawline, emphasizing how gorgeous he was… yeah okay, she could see how she'd like this. She closed the distance, getting a bunch of rainwater in her mouth, but the heavy, musky feel of the air against her skin as his hands wandered up and down her sides made this all the more worth it. His teeth grazed her lips, and his body was warm against hers. This was pretty hot, Don had to admit. She _finally_ got why this was a thing in like, literally every movie now. Well, she thought she got it, but then she felt a dribble of ice cold water go down her buttcrack and she yelped, pulling away.

"Okay, lets get you in a hot bath." Bucky laughed as she shivered, her teeth chattering again.

"Maybe we'll try again when it isn't literally freezing outside." she sighed once they re-entered the warm apartment. The movie was still playing, and she groaned. "We're missing so much of it!" she exclaimed as he nudged her towards the bathroom.

"We have the rest of our lives to watch cheesy movies, sweetheart. Let's just focus on me and you, right now." his lips brushed against her neck, and she laughed. He nudged her forwards, lightly tapping her ass with the heel of his palm.

"Okay, okay. I'm dying to get in the bath now, come on let's go." she tugged him the rest of the way. Her life in that moment had felt so perfect, she felt _invincible_. She was convinced that nothing could go wrong.

She should have known that the universe wouldn't let that happen.

Her nightmares started early that night. She wasn't usually one to have such terrible dreams, and she blamed it on an overactive imagination and hormones. Because the dreams, they were _horrible_. Especially the one playing in her mind that night.

"Bucky, it's our baby." she cooed down at the small bundle in her arms. They were surrounded by their friends, all smiling faces beaming, so happy to finally meet the baby. Short brown curls and bright blue eyes, pretty standard for a newborn, albeit a little less pruny than they usually looked.

"Baby." Buck stared down at it. "My…" a cough. "Baby."

"Bucky? Buck." she sat up, using one arm to grab his shoulder as he, quite literally, _keeled_ over. "Oh my god, oh my god. Someone, hey, Steve? Tony! Sam?!" she called to the friends who were standing at the edge of the room. Weren't any of them going to _help_ for christ's sake? "Help! Help!" she was screaming, but nobody moved, nobody batted an eye. They all stood there frozen, smiles almost garish on their faces as she helplessly watched the life drain from Bucky's eyes. He looked purple, choked, like he was having some sort of stroke. She had to help, but she couldn't do anything, she really wasn't that kind of doctor, and she was holding her baby, her baby… she looked down, screaming at its face. It was blue, the baby was blue and it wasn't breathing, and she was screaming her head off, she couldn't _do _anything, she felt so helpless, so-

She sat up, gasping for air. She glanced around, nobody was there. Bucky was fine, sleeping soundly next to her. She was fine. Donatella sighed, rolling over towards him, burying her face in his back with a silent sob. He shifted, taking in another deep breath, turning towards her.

"What's wrong?" he murmured, and she pressed her knees together, freezing. That felt… wrong. She quickly sat up, throwing the blankets off her legs and staring. This wasn't happening. This wasn't _fucking_ happening. "Don?" he sat up quickly, staring down at her lap with her. There was blood. Donatella shook. There was fucking _blood_.

….

Laying in a hospital bed was doing nothing for her nerves. Neither was Bucky pacing back and forth, waiting for the doctor to come in and tell them what was going on. Don was scared. So, so scared that she'd fucked it up, that she'd lost the baby. The tears had been almost nonstop since they'd gotten into the room. A few tests had been run, a near-silent endeavor of stoic doctors who were trying to figure out what was going on. She was thankful for them, really, but the silence was almost deafening. She felt like she couldn't feel her baby anymore, but she wasn't sure. She felt so… disappointed in herself.

"Mrs. Barnes?" a nurse walked in, and she quickly wiped her face as Bucky collapsed in the chair next to her bed, gripping her hand tightly.

"Y-yes." Don hiccupped.

"We understand this is a situation that requires the utmost secrecy, due to your… social standings." the nurse glanced between the husband and wife in front of her, and Don almost laughed. "We're taking every precaution and legally binding paperwork to assure you that your visit stays out of the media."

"Can you tell us what's going on?" Bucky pleaded, his fingers gripping hers tightly.

"The doctor will be in shortly to give you your results." she cleared her throat. "I'm just here to tell you that he's on his way."

"Is it good news?" Donatella whispered. She wasn't sure what she would do if she lost the baby. The nurse glanced into the hallway, a soft smile on her face.

"I'm really not supposed to say anything…" she sighed, but stepped closer. "Just know that you caught this early." she nodded at them before stepping out, letting the door close behind her again.

"Oh my god, what does that _mean_?" she moaned, leaning back onto the mountain of pillows behind her. They were really going all out for her. Probably because they wanted free tech. Well, she'd give it to them. They'd been more than accommodating, except for being so _cryptic_ about what was going on. She saw Bucky begin to pace again, out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't look at him. She felt embarrassed, ashamed… she'd fucked it all up. He was going to relapse, he was going to _hate_ her for whatever had gone wrong. He stopped pacing, letting out a sigh, coming to her side again. She squeezed her eyes shut. She _couldn't_ look at him. She just couldn't. She felt her throat begin to tighten, beginning to _burn_. What should she do? What should she say? What would he think? Her eyes stung with tears, and she felt hard metal fingers coaxing her fist open. He laced his hand through hers while she tried to stifle her sobs.

"No matter what happens," he sucked in a deep breath as he spoke, but she still couldn't look. "We're in this together." his voice broke, and she felt herself let it all out then. She shook as she cried, Bucky holding her close, wrapping her in a little bubble of protection. But, really, he couldn't do anything. Neither could she. And it was… more disappointing than she'd ever thought it would be.

"Mild placental abruption." the doctor explained to them as they sat there, curled into each other. He showed them the stills, the tests, gave them all of the information. "Since it's mild, and the bleeding's stopped, this isn't usually dangerous. However," he paused, letting them catch their breaths of relief, "I'd recommend bed rest until at least week 37. At that point I'd suggest we look into performing cesarean birth." she closed her eyes again. She couldn't even give birth normally? Donatella felt like a failure.

"Do we know what caused this?" Bucky pleaded, and Donatella let out a stuttering sob. She couldn't handle knowing why this had happened to her baby. She didn't want to be at fault. She couldn't be.

"Unfortunately, placental abruption happens to about one out of every hundred women. It's a case that we can't prevent, nor can we anticipate happening. You're some of the lucky ones. A mild case shouldn't affect the rest of the pregnancy as long as you rest and take it easy." he explained. He was very professional, letting her cry as Bucky's jaw tightened, being careful to let them know what would be okay and what wouldn't be. "I'll have your nurse give you a packet of daily exercises and what you should and shouldn't be doing and eating. I just want to let you know that intercourse is fine in this stage, as long as the two of you take it slow and easy." she couldn't even think about sex right now. Is that the first question people ask when this happens? She just wanted to know how she could make her baby be okay, safe and perfect.

"What if it gets worse?" she feared for what would happen.

"Well… there's a chance of premature birth. Stillborn. But, I wouldn't worry as long as you stay calm and don't exert yourself. I'm more worried about you. You could go into shock, kidney failure, clots, and worst case scenario you'd need a hysterectomy. I'm only telling you these things because you're a doctor yourself and you should know the risks. So please, I'm asking you to keep yourself safe and calm." she was nowhere near safe and calm. She could die, her _baby_ could die. She sat, frozen as he continued his spiel. She couldn't look anywhere but her lap, her hands fisted. She barely noticed the doctor leaving. Donatella and Bucky sat in silence, the clock the only noise they could hear. Neither of them dared to move, dared to speak. She was letting him down. She was ruining everything. It was all her fault…

She felt like she was sinking. Donatella saw her vision blur, she felt numb. Her limbs were heavy and she couldn't even move. She couldn't breathe. Don could barely think. What the hell was she going to do? Calm and safe, calm down Donatella, you have to make sure you keep the baby _safe_… before it was too late. She squeezed her eyes closed, barely feeling the hot tears streaming down her cheeks. She couldn't stop crying. God, she was pathetic. She still didn't know what to say. It felt like hours that they'd sat there in silence before the nurse came in to give them their visit summary and discharge papers. And, even once that was done, Bucky and Don still hadn't said a word. She made a motion to climb into the driver's seat, but his metal arm shot out in front of her, blocking the door.

"I'll drive." he rasped, and she hesitated, glancing up at him. He was staring down at the ground, not looking at her. Her heart broke a little bit. He was upset with her. She was a failure. Her body wasn't good enough to carry their child, _his_ child. She looked back down and moved to the other side of the car. He rarely drove, if ever. The only times he did was when he was going somewhere without her or when she was physically incapable of driving. She supposed she was. So fucking useless. Don carefully buckled her seatbelt, squeezing her eyes shut as the car started. They didn't speak the rest of the way home, and she was squeezing her fists together so tightly that they were shaking. When the car stopped, she slit her eyes open, staring at the concrete wall through the windshield that indicated to her that they were in the parking garage. She went through the motions of releasing her seatbelt and climbing out of the car, going painstakingly slow, trying to be careful. What was she going to say to him? She shuffled along behind him, following as he gently opened and closed doors. He was going to hate her. She didn't know what to do. How could she ever right this wrong?

She followed him in silence to the bedroom, where he opened her drawers and got her a change of clothes. He handed them wordlessly to her, and she changed them and sighed, moving to the laundry room to get the sheets from the wash.

"I got it." he murmured, nudging her to the side and getting the sheets, moving mechanically and stiff as he tugged them over the bed. "Lay down." his voice was nearly a whisper. She knew it. He could barely stand to talk to her. He hated her. She quickly crawled under the blanket that he held up for her, and Bucky propped her up on some pillows before tucking the blanket around her. He stood there wordlessly, the silence hanging heavy and dark around them. She tried to meet his eyes, but he wouldn't make eye contact. He was staring straight down at her stomach, eyes slanted and sad.

"Bucky…" she tried to find the words for what she was feeling, but she just couldn't. Donnie felt… empty. Horrible. She felt nothing and everything all at the same time.

"I'm sorry." he blurted out. She looked back up to his face, seeing blue gleaming with unshed tears. "I'm so sorry. I couldn't… I couldn't _do_ anything." his hand came up to rake down his face, smearing wet tears over his cheeks.

"Buck-"

"I feel so _useless_." he stammered out. "There's nothing that I can do to help you." his voice broke. She stared in shock. _He_ was the one that blamed _himself_? No… no.

"This wasn't your fault." she shook her head. "It wasn't you at all. It was me, Buck."

"No, you didn't do anything. You were the careful one, you.." his voice cracked again, and he knelt down next to the bed to bury his face in her lap. "I couldn't _do_ anything." he huffed. Her hands hovered over the top of his head, unsure of what to do.

"I couldn't either. None of us could…" she reassured him.

"I just…" he mumbled, voice vibrating against her knee. "I just feel useless." Bucky repeated.

"You're not." Donnie whispered. "Buck, you're not useless, I promise."

"You told Pepper I was." he lifted his head, bloodshot eyes staring her down. Her heart leapt to her throat. She _had_ said that. She felt shame fill her.

"I didn't… we didn't mean it." she shook her head. If she could have taken it back, she would have. "We were just… you and Tony weren't paying attention, that's all." regret bloomed in her stomach.

"You were right." his voice cracked again, and she bit her lip. "Don't take it back. Because you _were_ right."

"Buck, you aren't useless. You think I could… I could go through this on my own? I… failed you. I can't even deliver our baby, Buck. I'm a failure as a mother and our baby isn't even born yet." she sniffled. His eyes studied her, blue darkening. His lips lifted into a slight smile, and he chuckled, shaking his head.

"Are we really sitting here, arguing about which one of us sucks more?" he sighed. "I'm sorry. No, don't say anything." he held up his finger when she opened her mouth. "We're both sorry. Neither of us could do anything. We should stop… stop blaming ourselves. And we should keep moving forward. Because I'll be damned if we start seeing our little girl as anything less than perfect. And she will be perfect, and healthy, and beautiful. Just like her mama." he finished softly, his hand gently touching her stomach, the cool, metallic palm feeling out where the baby was. Donnie gave him a watery smile before sighing, tilting her head back.

"You're right. Our baby is gonna be perfectly fine. I promise I'm going to make sure nothing bad happens." Don smiled wider. "But, it's a boy." she looked down at him with an amused smile on her face.

"Uh, no. She's a girl. Most definitely. I can _feel_ it." he argued. Don rolled her eyes at his insistence.

"I'm the one that can _feel him_. He's literally living in my uterus." she retorted. He groaned, leaning his face against her stomach and pressing both hands against her bump.

"Please, do not say that word. She doesn't like it and it's weird." he mumbled into her belly. Donnie rolled her eyes again, even though he couldn't see it.

"Uterus. And he's fine with it." she sniffed. Bucky groaned again, rolling his head to the side to look up at her, big blue eyes and tousled hair. He looked tired. He should be, they'd woken up and rushed to the hospital around two in the morning, and it was now just after five. It was early, and they'd had so much laid down on them… she sighed.

"You ok?" he asked, looking worried. She nodded wordlessly, and his eyes flickered down to her stomach as he sat up before looking back up at her. "Hungry?" she shook her head, and he frowned. "You sure?"

"Um…" she smiled sheepishly as her stomach groaned. She actually was kind of hungry. His lips quirked into a small smile.

"Why are you lying?" he teased. She shrugged, plucking at the hem of her shirt. "Come on." he coaxed, snatching her hand in his and intertwining their fingers.

"I just want to sit here together for a minute." she squeezed his hand. His grin widened, and he leaned closer to her.

"Doll, we've been pretty alone for the past few days. Arnie and Thor are off world, Nat, Steve and Sam are out of the country, Tony, well, he's busy with Pepper, and Peter's busy at school. Think you're being a little clingy?" Bucky teased. She scoffed, letting go of his hand and crossing her arms across her chest.

"Fine. Go away." she pouted, and Bucky laughed. She felt her cheeks heat up. It wasn't _her_ fault she liked him so much! "I'll go hang out with someone else. I'll call Peter up and I'll hang out with him or something and you can go get away from my clinginess."

"Okay, now you're overreacting." Bucky groaned. "I was kidding!"

"Go away." Donnie repeated. He sighed, flopping down next to her.

"You can't get rid of me, so don't even try." Bucky huffed out. She felt a small smile appear on her lips, and she cursed internally for cracking.

"Do you think everything is going to be okay?" she asked quietly. He sat there for a moment, those slate blue eyes studying her. Donnie was relieved that he was at least thinking over his answer instead of blindly reassuring her. It was something she appreciated about him. She appreciated everything about him.

"I think…" his tongue darted out against his top lip as he thought about his answer. "I think as long as we're careful, and we keep it together, things will be fine." Bucky finished softly. Don pressed her lips together in a thin line, mulling over how she wanted to respond. She decided on a swift nod, and he leaned forward to press a quick kiss on the top of her head. "Now, I'm making you a snack. Anything in particular that you want?" he raised an eyebrow and she grinned. Thank god she had him. She wouldn't know what to do otherwise.

Bucky was probably the best bedside nurse she'd ever seen. She wasn't exactly sick, per se, but he sure as hell catered to her every whim. Bedrest technically meant she should be in bed most of the day, doing nothing. And Donnie _hated_ it, but Buck was really good about entertaining her and keeping her happy. And, might she add, _very_ well fed. Don had probably gained about twenty pounds of weight, not including the baby.

"Bucky, just go." she groaned as he hesitated in the doorway.

"What if something happens?" he was all decked out in tactical gear, holsters strapped to his (thick) thighs and a bulletproof vest half-zipped over his broad chest.

"Like what, I get gas?" she quirked an eyebrow, and he rolled his eyes at her.

"Excuse me for not wanting to leave my seven-months pregnant wife all laid up in bed while I have to go and get shot at." he retorted bitterly. She sighed, shaking her head.

"Buck. It's been months, and Peter has already promised to come over after school. I have some work to keep me busy, so don't worry. Okay?" she coaxed him. "You said it would only be a day. I can survive one measly day without you rubbing my feet and making me cheesy pasta."

"Can you though? You seem to like it all too well." he teased, his face finally relaxing from the pinched, worried expression he seemed to be wearing much too often.

"I'll be fine." she promised. "And, if something _does_ happen, which it wont!" Donnie interrupted before he could say anything. "If something happens, I've got Tony and Peter to call and they'll be on their way. Now, come on, you've gotta get going before Sam crashes through the window. Again." she muffled a laugh at the memory of the Falcon busting through their living-room window after a recon mission. He'd been so embarrassed, but Bucky and Don thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

"Call me tonight." he held a gloved finger up, waving it in the direction of her phone. "If I don't hear from you I'm coming straight home."

"Hey. I should be the one saying that to _you_, you're the one going to deal with an alien threat in Arizona." she smiled. He sighed, crossing the room to sit on the edge of the bed next to her.

"If you need anything. Call me. _Please_." he said gently, and she nodded.

"Don't worry. I'll be perfectly fine." Donnie reassured him. His face relaxed a bit, the crease between his eyebrows disappearing as he gave her a soft smile. He leaned forward, giving her a quick kiss before doing the same on her stomach. There was a small kick in return, and the grin widened as he palmed the spot where their baby greeted him. He stared down reverently for a moment, his soft smile and sparkling eyes causing her heart to ache. Things were just getting better and better.

She knew that things could switch at a moments notice. Health risks, accidents in the field, anything could turn their situation sour. God knows it had happened countless times in their relationship already. Aliens, the government, her family, even their own stubborn nature. But she finally felt like they were in the right place. They'd already hit rock bottom, and they survived. They could do it again.

"Guess I should go." he sighed, reluctantly standing from the edge of the bed.

"Don't miss me too much." she grinned up at him, and he shot her a lopsided smirk.

"I will." he leaned down to press another kiss to the top of her head, letting his lips linger for a beat before pulling away with a frown.

"Be safe." she called out as he walked backwards to the doorway.

"You too." was his response, sending her one last longing, lingering look before vanishing through the door. She had to strain her ears to hear the door click as it closed, and she sighed, settling back into her pillows for a few moments. Don half expected Bucky to rush back inside and curl up under the covers with her, but he had a will of steel and he had to go. People needed his help, and she couldn't be selfish and keep him all to herself forever, no matter how much she wished she could. He wouldn't admit it, but he was so inherently… good. He was good to his core. His past muddied the waters, but she could see that heart of gold clear as day. And he would do his best to prove his worth. For her. For their _family_.

Once Don was sufficiently bored (she swore that she'd watched every movie on Netflix twice) she decided to try and get some work done at her drafting desk in the next room over. Which, to be fair, she had been doing a lot of at home. So much so that she'd begun some calculations and rough drafts for a gift for Natasha. It would be her birthday in a few weeks, and she had been complaining that her widow bites were becoming a hassle. So Donatella offered to do an update on her tech. Nat had protested at first, but even she couldn't resist the lure of a shiny new toy. Donatella had lost track of time when she heard the door opening. Glancing at the clock, she frowned once she realized it was already the time that Peter said he's be over.

"Okay I swear that was the last time, we're taking the bus next time for sure. _Never_ again." an unfamiliar voice wheezed. She heard Peter's laugh and relaxed, he must have brought a friend along.

"MJ, you're sure you don't want to try again? I'll go slower, promise." his voice teased. She could hear them coming closer, and she swiveled in her chair, watching Peter and a really cute girl walk right past the open door towards her bedroom. "Hey, Donnie, I'm here!" he called from down the hall, and she stifled a laugh, standing up carefully and padding over to the doorway. "Don?"

"So much for your spidey-sense. I'm in here, you guys blew right past me." Donatella called from her spot, leaning her head into the hallway. Peter's head snapped around and his face looked surprised.

"Hey! You're not supposed to be up, bedrest, remember?" his arms gestured wildly, and he looked panicked.

"Peter. I'm fine, I was sitting at my desk and literally not moving for over an hour." Don rolled her eyes, smiling at MJ as she approached. "Hi, you're MJ right? Peter has told me a lot about you." Donnie held out her hand for the girl to take. She did, glancing around the apartment warily.

"Peter's told me about you, too. And… about the _Winter Soldier_." Don held her breath, worried that the girl was nervous about Bucky. She really had no reason to be, but people still got skittish easily when it came to him.

"Oh. Well, yeah, Bucky's my husband." Donatella smiled, trying to put the girl at ease. Peter glanced between the pair, looking a little exasperated. MJ had a look on her face that was strained, like she was dying to say something. Probably just nervous, Don thought.

"Go ahead, MJ, ask your questions." he sighed, and the girl let out a huge breath of relief.

"Did you guys really go on the run in Romania from the American government? And you got, like, arrested and then you escaped and you even fought with Peter? Which, like, sorry for you guys but that's honestly pretty dope. Oh, also I read somewhere that you made his arm? His new one, that he's been using since he got his name cleared while he was in Wakanda? And I also wanted to know about his brainwashing stuff, I watched a _Buzzfeed Unsolved_ video and they weren't sure about a lot of stuff because Tony Stark has kept it all hush-hush but-"

"Maybe we should get settled before we talk about… all of this." Don smiled, her tensed up shoulders relaxing. Had she ever met someone who had been so… _excited_ to hear about Bucky? She couldn't recall, but the way MJ had reacted to hearing about him, well… it made her feel good. Warm inside. There were people out there who were interested in him, not just scared of him. "Wait, there's an Unsolved episode about Bucky?" she realized, shooting a look at Peter.

"Oh, yeah it's really good. Kinda made me want to go punch out someone from Hydra, but you already took care of the last of them." Peter shrugged, flopping down into the recliner chair. MJ grabbed a seat next to him, and Donnie carefully sank into the other side of the couch, facing Peter and his friend.

"What do you mean she took care of the rest of them?" MJ furrowed her brow, glancing between the pair.

"I didn't tell you that her parents were Hydra? And then Donnie's crazy brother kidnapped her, and-"

"_What?!_ There wasn't anything online about this!" MJ exclaimed. Don watched Peter quirk his lips up as he watched her, and Don couldn't help the knowing grin that appeared on her face. Oh, he really liked this girl. He'd mentioned to Don that they were together now, but actually seeing them in the same room, and meeting this girl, well… she knew he had it bad. And honestly, Donnie approved. She wouldn't mind having MJ around more.

At thirty-eight weeks into her pregnancy, Donatella's doctor wanted to perform her c-section.

"I just don't understand why we have to do this so early. You're not due for another two weeks!" Bucky fumed as he drove. He was nervous, she was nervous, and neither of them could do anything to fix the problem.

"I could go into labor at any time after this point. We have to be careful." she reminded him. He sighed, but glowered straight ahead at the road around him. He had that menacing look that he rarely wore around her anymore, not since they'd first met. But she could tell he was pissed. And worried. Very, very worried.

"What if something goes wrong? This is a major surgery." his voice sounded pleading, and Don pursed her lips together as she studied some graffiti on the building they were stopped next to. She knew that this was something they had to do, but she didn't have to be happy about it.

"We have to assume that this is the best course of action." Don replied quietly. "If I go into labor, there's a chance that the baby could die, or that I could bleed out." they stopped at another red light. Bucky was tense, and he let out another frustrated sigh.

"Why us? Haven't we gone through enough?" he asked, voice rough with emotion.

"The world is going to keep testing us for the rest of our lives. I'd suggest you get used to it." one of his hands left the steering wheel to lace his fingers through hers.

"I don't want to." he pouted, bringing their hands up so he could press his lips against the inside of her wrist.

"That's life." she shrugged. He let out a breathy chuckle, slowing as they drove into the hospital parking lot. A family in a blue car was leaving, all smiles on their faces. Her heart skipped a beat. She hoped that they could leave as happy as they were.

"Is there anything that we can do to make it all easier?" he questioned her as he pulled into a spot. She sighed, glancing out the window again.

"Why are you the one who's so worried? I'm the one getting surgery." she grimaced, and he shot her a look.

"What, am I not allowed to be worried for my wife and child?" he exclaimed, raking his hand through his hair before fumbling with his seatbelt. She carefully released hers while he tripped out of the car, and she had to stifle a laugh. He was losing his mind, and she felt a bit bad, but it was also making her feel so much better. Her husband was _so_ weird. But she loved it. He tried to help her out of the car, but he stumbled on the curb, and she quickly decided she could walk better on her own. He was so _distracted_. It was cute.

"Good morning." the receptionist smiled warmly at them as they entered the hospital.

"Uh, hi." the nerves were back, and she couldn't tell if the fluttering feeling in her stomach was from butterflies or her baby kicking her bladder again.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked, fingers hovering over her keyboard as she prepared to type the information in. Bucky glanced at his frozen wife before taking charge.

"We have a procedure. C-section. Last name Barnes?" he said quickly, and Donnie tensed, waiting for the pitying look that women gave her after hearing about her c-section. It didn't come.

"Alright, Donatella? Could you just confirm your address and date of birth for me?" she asked warmly, no signs of judgement on her face. Don sighed, relaxing as she gave the required information. They went through the insurance stuff and the copays before they were actually done with checking in. "You two can grab a seat, a nurse will be down in just a few minutes to come and get you to your room for prep." she smiled, and the couple gave her a quick nod before sitting on a hard cushioned loveseat.

"She was nice." Bucky commented, lacing their fingers together. She nodded as he circled his thumb on the back of her hand, and she stared straight ahead, drumming her fingers against the arm of the seat. "Hey." he reached over with his other hand, stilling her restless movements. "Everything is going to be okay. I promise, if it's not…"

"You'd better avenge me." she teased, and he paused, shooting her an annoyed look.

"If our baby gets your sense of humor, I swear to god…" he shook his head, smoothing his metal fingers over her bump. "I just want to see her. Tomorrow she's going to be out of there and right in our arms." he blinked, voice low.

"_He_ is excited to meet us. He can tell it's going to be time soon." she put her hand over the top of his on her stomach, the cool metal calming her nerves.

"Mr. and Mrs. Barnes?" a man wearing light blue scrubs walked out.

"That's us." Bucky stood quickly, offering his arm to help Don up. The nurse smiled politely at them, waiting patiently as Bucky fussed over her, grabbing their bag and tugging her shirt back down over her belly. Finally she decided to just swat his hand away, shooting a sheepish smile at the nurse.

"Right this way. We're going to set you up in a room right away, and your surgery isn't scheduled for another hour, so we can get your IV started right away." her heart leapt into her throat when he said surgery. Bucky squeezed her hand comfortingly. She knew what she was getting into, but actually getting ready for it was nerve wracking.

"Thank you." she spoke as he handed her a gown and some grippy-hospital socks. She hated those socks.

"The IV tech will be in soon." he smiled again before leaving, and she stared down at the bundle of clothes in her hands. Once she changed and got prepped she'd be cut open and her baby was going to be born. It was all so… surreal. It didn't feel like her life. She felt weird. Don was in some in between state, where she knew exactly was about to come up next, but getting to that next step felt… foreign. Like it wasn't really her that was going through this. Going through the motions, basically.

"You gonna change?" Bucky placed his hand on her shoulder, and she glanced back at him before giving a weak smile.

"Yeah." her voice was quiet, even to her own ears.

"Do you want help?" his other hand played with the hem of her shirt. She shook her head, and he dropped his arm, giving her a little space. Shying away from his gaze and stepping behind the curtain, she wrestled herself out of her regular clothes and slid into the gown. She stepped back out and he grabbed her hand once more, smoothing his thumb over her knuckles.

"You'll be here the whole time, right?" she blurted, and his eyes widened.

"Of course, where else would I go?" he questioned. She shook her head and shrugged, not really knowing what to say. "Hey. Together. Remember?" he squeezed her fingers gently.

"Together." she echoed, climbing into the bed. The sheets were thin and scratchy, and she was a bit cold in the white sterile room. She gripped his hand again, the metal one this time, and he glanced down with a soft smile.

"You know…" he paused, meeting her gaze. "You're the only one who has never been… nervous about the arm."

"I made it, angel." she snorted, and he tilted his head back as he laughed.

"You know what I mean. Even when I first met you, you weren't scared to touch it, to see it. I think that's when I realized there was something special about you." his other hand came up to brush some hair out of her face.

"Yeah, special my ass." she chuckled. "If I knew what was good for me I would've been way more careful than to bring a strange man into my apartment late at night to stitch him up. And then I even let you _stay_ with me, ugh." she rolled her eyes. "I was so dumb."

"Hey, are you saying you regret it?" he frowned, and she felt a sharp laugh escape her.

"No, I'm saying that if you were any other Hydra, or ex-Hydra agent, for that matter, I'd be dead!" she exclaimed. A grin spread across his face.

"Well, at least I know you'll never do anything like that again." he shrugged. She scoffed, leaning back into her pillow.

"Hopefully our kid doesn't inherit my dumb bitch genes." Donatella grumbled, and he sighed, leaning forward to caress her stomach.

"What does that even mean? You're not dumb. Our baby girl is going to be so smart, _so smart_." he cooed to her bump. She rolled her eyes.

"_He_ will hopefully be smart." she said pointedly.

"Oh come on, you know it's a girl. It _has_ to be a girl." he argued. "She's a beautiful girl and we're going to name her Regina." Donatella gave a fake gag at his insinuation.

"We are _not_ naming our baby Regina. I hate that name." she grumbled. "I like Nathaniel."

"No!" he groaned. "No to Nathaniel. You know I don't like that name."

"We're going to have to name him eventually!" she argued.

"She will be named when she's born. And it's gonna be Loretta."

"Not Loretta!" Donatella exclaimed. "Dante."

"Dante is a cool name. We'll name our boy Dante. But this one's a girl." he huffed. "Vivian?"

"Where are you getting these names, straight from the forties?" she scoffed dryly.

"As a matter of fact I did google forties names for our baby." he sneered. "Lucy."

"I-" she paused, a furrow forming in her brow. "Lucy Barnes." she tested it out. "Lucille Barnes."

"It's got a ring, you gotta admit." he coaxed her. Donatella pursed her lips, leaning back again.

"Ok. We'll name our girl Lucille. But it's a boy, and he's gonna be Dante." she settled, closing her eyes.

Bucky smiled, and it never left his lips. Not even as the IV was inserted, or as he followed her to the operating room, or as they put the curtain up and made the first incision. He held her hand, gave encouraging words, and smiled at his wife. She smiled back up at him, her lips softly curved even when the cord was cut and her baby was placed on her chest for the first time.

"Lucy Barnes, this is the best day of my life." Bucky whispered down to his baby.

"She's a girl. Little traitor." Don smiled, still a little out of it from the epidural and painkillers.

"Mommy's just saying that." he crooned to the baby, pink and flushed and already asleep like the little angel he always knew she'd be. A dark thatch of hair was matted to the top of her head, and Donnie gazed drowsily down at their baby.

"I think this is love at first sight." Donatella admitted with a soft laugh.

"Me too." he smiled. "I'm gonna spoil the shit out of her."

"I'd expect nothing less of you. I love her so much." she cooed, pressing her lips to the soft skin on Lucy's little head.

"I love her." Bucky mimicked her actions, careful not to let his stubble scrape her. "And I love you too. Always." he kissed his wife gently, and she felt warm, and safe, and so very happy.

"Me too." she agreed with a slight smile. "I'll always love you the most."

**And it's finally the end. I'm sad and happy at the same time, you guys. Thank you SO much for liking this story, it really means a lot to me. This is the final part of Don and Bucky's story, I think it's time to retire. I'm trying to quit while I'm ahead :) Trying not to cry while posting this honestly.**

**Don't worry, I'm still writing, just maybe not on here... just made an AO3 account and I'll link it in my bio here once I start posting there. It's the end of an era. I'll always have a soft spot for this story, it's one of the ones that I actually like (and have finished completely). But Donnie and Bucky are finally where they belong. **


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